High freezing levels and extreme winds have taken away the good skiing for now. Rain/snow and winds will continue for the next several days and make backcountry travel less than ideal. Let the snow fall, and the temps drop, and by the end of the week, we will see nice ski quality once again
With up to 65cm of recent snow in alpine areas and recent increase in wind values, there is a lot of snow to move around and build new wind slabs. Keep an eye out for drum like and cakey feeling snow when transitioning into wind affected terrain.
The Feb crust has been the main bed surface for many avalanches this winter. Slopes and features that have not slid should be treated cautiously or just avoided. Dig and look.
Facets near the base of the snowpack may be triggered from thin areas. Solar slopes could see full depth avalanches when they heat up with daytime warming. Low probability, high consequence avalanches should be in your mind.
No new avalanche observed today, but field teams were out of the field before the day really warmed up. +5 in the field at 2300m today.
The warmth is taking its toll. Snow on all aspects and elevations other then true North in the alpine is becoming moist during the warmth of the day and forming a slight melt freeze crust during the cool periods of the night. Strong to extreme winds have stripped all windward aspects and built windslabs in the Lee's. These winds have crept down in to treeline elevations on Tuesday.
Tuesday evening: Mainly cloudy with rain & snow. Winds will continue in the extreme range out of the SW (55km/h-80km/h). Freezing levels overnight will stay elevated to 2300m
Wednesday will see mostly cloudy skies and continued strong to extreme winds out of the SW. Freezing levels will remain around 2300m.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
