Good skiing to be had at treeline right now. Watch for building slabs during the storm.
New soft windslabs have formed in the lee areas from the storm that just pushed through. The distribution at treeline is more isolated.
Snow pit tests showed sudden results on this interface in a wind protected north aspect at treeline down 50cm. We suspect with more load that this interface could wake up.
The weather system is coming to an end soon.
Saturday: Flurries with up to 10cm. Light SW winds and temps ranging from -5 to -15.
Sunday: Temps drop with the switching to a northerly flow with a mix of sun and cloud.
Monday: Mix of sun and clouds with temps from -5 to -10 and light northerly ridge winds.
Details here: Mountain Weather Forecast.
Up to 40cm of recent snow in the Columbia Icefields area fell on to a mix of surfaces; surface facets, surface hoar, and previous wind slab and/or hard wind pressed surfaces. The moderate winds built soft wind slabs at ridge tops. Oct. and Nov. crusts are preserved in the mid and lower snowpack are breaking down with faceting.
Limited visibility in the field today but we suspect some natural activity from the storm. Previous avalanche control work in the Parker Ridge area produced little results, only 2 soft size 2 wind slabs were triggered from 15 explosive shots. On our drive back to town we had decent visibility and observed no new natural avalanches.
