The wind came along and wrecked the party. Fresh and reactive wind slabs are found at upper elevations, and the buried crust now has a more significant load over top. Time to dial back the objectives and take a more conservative approach.
Wind speeds picked up more than expected on Wednesday and there are now widespread wind slab conditions in Alpine terrain on all aspects.
Carefully evaluate the bond with the Feb 19th crust down 40 to 60cm. Recent wind loading will make this problem more reactive, as will periods of intense solar input.
Thursday will be a mix of sun cloud with a cold start (near -25) that will warm to -10 by midday. The March sun will pack a punch on solar aspects. Winds will be moderate to strong from the NW. No snowfall is expected.
Friday and Saturday are both calling for light flurries.
One size 2.0 naturally triggered loose dry occurred on a very steep east aspect in the Alpine. With the continued wind loading, natural slab avalanches are expected in Alpine terrain, but so far no observations of this.
Our neighbours in Kootenay reported a size 3.5 skier accidental slab avalanche on Tuesday. This slide occurred on the buried sun crust.
Unfortunately the winds were moderate on Wednesday from a variety of directions. This has created reactive wind slabs on all aspects in the Alpine. These fresh wind slabs could step down to the Feb 19 interface (sun crust or hard slab) buried 40 to 60cm which could result in larger avalanches. Solar aspects have numerous vintages of sun crust interspersed with soft snow, which is making travel on these aspects less than ideal.
