Continue to make conservative terrain choices while the storm snow settles and stabilizes.
Storm slabs will be most reactive in steep wind-loaded areas such as near ridgecrests and rollovers. In isolated cases, slabs could step down to a deeper buried weak layer, resulting in large avalanches.
On Saturday, skiers reported whumpfing and cracking (which are signs of an unstable snowpack) in the Mt. Cokely area.
On Thursday, a small (size 1) remote-triggered avalanche was reported on a north aspect at treeline. A few larger but older avalanches were also described. See the MIN report here.
If you are heading into the backcountry, consider posting a MIN.
15 to 30 cm of new snow is covering a variety of surfaces including old wind-affected snow, facets or surface hoar in sheltered areas, or a hard crust on sunny slopes. At upper elevations, moderate southwesterly winds may be blowing the storm snow into fresh wind slabs on lee slopes. A widespread crust, sometimes accompanied by a thin layer of weak facets, is buried 30 to 70 cm beneath predominantly low-density snow. There is some concern for storm slabs potentially stepping down to this weak layer. Otherwise, the mid and lower snowpack contains no other layers of concern.
Sunday Night
Cloudy with 0 to 7 cm of snow. 25 to 35 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -1 °C. Freezing level around 1000 m.
Monday
Cloudy with 0 to 2 cm of snow / light rain. 5 to 10 km/h variable ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature 0 °C. Freezing level rising to 1400 m.
Tuesday
Cloudy with 0 to 4 cm of snow. 30 to 50 km/h south ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -1 °C. Freezing level around 1100 m.
Wednesday
Cloudy with 15 to 30 cm of snow. 70 to 80 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature 0 °C. Freezing level around 1300 m
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
