Wind slabs remain sensitive to rider triggers, found on most aspects from variable winds.
Watch for mid slope loading, and cross loaded features.
Variable winds have formed slabs on most aspects. As westerly wind increases storm snow will be redistributed on to east facing terrain, forming larger and more reactive slabs.
Many rider triggered avalanches to size 2 have been reported in wind affected terrain, including loose dry avalanches triggering slabs. Several avalanches also involved cornice failures. Several occurred on south-facing slopes, highlighting variable wind loading.
On Thursday, persistent slabs up to size 3 were observed in the Esplanades, failing on deeply buried weak layers in the alpine and upper treeline - by heavy loads and where there was no/minimal crust above.
Recent snowfall has been redistributed into deeper deposits at higher elevations by strong winds. In the Monashees, a crust exists within the recent storm snow at lower elevations.
The prominent mid December crust is buried up to 110 cm deep, which can be found up to 2300 m. Several weak layers exist in the lower snowpack, however concern only exists for at higher elevation terrain where the mid December crust does not exist above. Triggering is considered generally unlikely, except by large loads.
Sunday Night
Partly cloudy. 1 cm of snow. 20-40 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -11 °C.
Monday
Mix of sun and clouds. 1 cm of snow. 20-30 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -9 °C.
Tuesday
Mix of sun and clouds. 30-50 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -5 °C.
Wednesday
Mix of sun and clouds. 1 cm of snow. 30 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -4 °C.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
