Glacier

Human-triggered avalanches remain a concern as the storm snow continues to accumulate and temperatures rise to near zero.

Use caution near ridgetop, on leeward slopes and on cross-loaded features.

Natural avalanches are still being observed with the accumulation of new snow and wind. People have also reported avalanches hitting the skin track up the Connaught drainage.

Over the past few days there were numerous, large natural & artificially triggered avalanches running on storm snow interfaces. These ranged in size from 1.0 to 3.5 and some were running to valley bottom.

10cm of new snow sits on the surface. At lower elevations, this new snow sits on a crust up to 1700m.

Up to 145cm of snow has fallen over the last week with periods of strong to extreme southwesterly wind. This has created a thick storm slab which will need time to settle.

Areas sheltered from the wind may have a layer of surface hoar buried around 100cm deep.

Incremental loading with warm temps before a pulse of heavy snow on Monday.

Tonight 5cm. Low -6°C. West winds 15-35km/hr. FZL (freezing level) 1000m.

Sat 5cm. High 0°C. SW winds 30-60km/hr. FZL (freezing level) 1700m.

Sun 15cm. High -1°C. SW winds 30-70km/hr. FZL (freezing level) 1600m.

Mon 40cm. High -1°C. SW winds 25-75km/hr. FZL (freezing level) 1700m.

• Avoid freshly wind-loaded features, especially near ridge crests, rollovers, and in steep terrain.
• Look for signs of instability: whumphing, hollow sounds, shooting cracks, and recent avalanches.
• Give the new snow several days to settle and stabilize before pushing into bigger terrain.