New snow and wind loading have formed touchy storm slabs, especially on north through east facing slopes.
Stick to non-avalanche terrain.
New snow accompanied by strong west winds may be forming reactive new slabs at all elevations, but will be particularly be prone to triggering on wind-loaded slopes near ridgetops.
Clear skies on Tuesday showed evidence of Monday's avalanche cycle up to (size 3). A fatal, human-triggered (size 3.5) occurred near the Anniversary Glacier on a wind-loaded, northeast slope in the alpine. Several smaller human-triggered (up to size 1.5) events also occurred at alpine and treeline elevations.
Up to 40 cm of new snow has blanketed the region. Strong southwest ridgetop winds have formed thicker and more reactive slabs on leeward slopes. The new snow sits over a variety of old snow surfaces, including surface hoar, crusts, and facets. Expect the potential for a poor bond at the storm snow interface.
Up to 100 cm is sitting over the early February crust. That crust is thin and breakable on northerly aspects to 2300 m, but thick on southerly aspects.
A widespread crust and facet layer from late January is buried around 100+ cm deep.
Wednesday Night
Cloudy. 1 to 5 cm of snow. 80 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -6 °C.
Thursday
Cloudy. 5 to 15 cm of snow. 80 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -5 °C.
Friday
Mostly cloudy. 4 to 10 cm of snow. 60 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -6 °C.
Saturday
Mostly sunny. 2 cm of snow. 40 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -5 °C.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
