Warm temperatures and sun are forecast for the alpine on Saturday 😎
Avoid slopes with cornices overhead, and limit exposure to slopes that become moist or wet.
Pockets of wind slab may remain triggerable by riders in leeward features in the high alpine where snow remains dry.
Large, looming cornices may become weak with sun and warm temperatures.
A layer of surface hoar is buried around 1 m deep. Large loads like cornice falls may be able to trigger this layer, especially in areas that lack a robust surface crust.
During the warm, wet weather in the first half of the week, large avalanches were reported up to size 3, including a few cornice falls that triggered persistent slabs on slopes below.
Since Wednesday, there have been a few wind slabs, mostly size 1, triggered by humans and cornices on SW-SE aspects in the high alpine.
A widespread melt-freeze crust extends up to 2200 m in the north of the region and 2500 m in the south. In the high alpine, dry snow is wind affected. Sun and warm temperatures on Saturday are likely to moisten dry snow and soften crusts, especially on steep south-facing slopes. Large, overhanging cornices linger.
A surface hoar layer from in early January is buried around 1 m deep. In some areas, this layer continues to give results in snowpack tests. The mid-December crust is now buried around 1.5 m deep, and is present up to 2300 m. Triggering these layers is considered possible with large loads, like a cornice failure or in thin snowpack areas.
Friday Night
Clear skies. 20 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -2 °C. Freezing level valley bottom.
Saturday
Sunny. 20 km/h northwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -2 °C. Above freezing layer 2200 to 3200 m.
Sunday
Sunny. 30 km/h northwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -4 °C. Freezing level valley bottom.
Monday
Sunny. 30 km/h northwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -5 °C. Freezing level valley bottom.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
