Sea To Sky

Small wind slabs may still be triggerable in extreme terrain.

Investigate how old slabs are bonded in your area before committing to large terrain features.

On Monday there were several small wet loose avalanches reported on sunny slopes. As well as some large cornices failing on northern aspects.

The strong south-to-west alpine wind is expected to have scoured any soft snow and either carried it away or dropped it far downslope.

The upper snowpack consists of:

• A crust that likely formed on the surface at treeline and below, and on steep slopes in the alpine that saw the sun.

• Surface hoar growing in terrain sheltered from the wind.

• Sheltered snow which has likely been faceting and softening.

An otherwise right-side-up snowpack appears to be bonding well to a crust buried 70 to 100 cm deep. The mid and lower snowpack is generally well-settled and bonded with no layers of concern.

Wednesday Night

Partly cloudy. 10 km/h northwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -4 °C.

Thursday

Mostly sunny. 20 to 30 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature +1 °C. Freezing level 2700 m.

Friday

Cloudy with 10 to 20 cm of snow. 20 to 40 km/h south ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -3 °C.

Saturday

Mostly sunny. 10 km/h northwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -3 °C.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

• Be careful with wind-loaded pockets, especially near ridge crests and rollovers.
• Avalanche activity is unlikely when a thick melt-freeze crust is present on the snow surface.
• The snowpack is generally stable; it may be appropriate to step out into more complex terrain.