New snow adds another layer to a complex upper snowpack. Human-triggered avalanches are a concern. Evaluate snow and terrain carefully.
A widespread weak layer of surface hoar/crust/facets is buried around 30 to 50 cm deep. Avalanche activity has tapered recently but the snowpack structure remains a concern for human triggering.
Recent snow and wind are building fresh slabs. They may be especially reactive where they sit over a slippery crust or surface hoar crystals.
There have been no avalanche observations since early last week. Up until then, small human-triggered persistent slab avalanches were being reported regularly on the late January surface hoar/crust/facet layer.
Looking forward, this layer may become active again as it is loaded with new snow.
The next storm ushers in another layer of complexity in an increasingly complex upper snowpack.
10 to 20 cm of new snow buries a widespread layer of large surface hoar crystals, and/or a crust on solar aspects. This is uppermost of three surface hoar/crust layers in the top 50 cm.
The most concerning of them is the deepest and most widespread, composed of surface hoar on a melt-freeze crust, with a thick layer of facets below. It was buried in late January and now sits roughly 30 to 50 cm deep. Avalanche activity on this layer has tapered but this snowpack structure remains a concern.
The mid and lower snowpack remain well settled, with no significant concerns at this time.
Friday Night
Cloudy. 10 cm of snow. 30 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -6 °C.
Saturday
Cloudy. 2 to 10 cm of snow. 30 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -6 °C.
Sunday
Mostly sunny. 1 to 2 cm of snow. 20 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -7 °C.
Monday
Mix of sun and clouds. 3 to 5 cm of snow. 20 km/h south ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -7 °C.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
