Travel in terrain sheltered from wind and avoid overhead hazard, especially during periods of strong wind or heavy snowfall.
Ongoing snowfall and wind continue to stress buried weak layers in the upper snowpack. Facets, surface hoar, and crusts in the snowpack may be more reactive, producing widely propagating avalanches.
Ongoing storm slab formation is widespread, particularly in wind-loaded terrain, where slabs are deeper and more sensitive to triggering.
A large (size 2.5) persistent slab avalanche was remotely triggered by a skier on Tuesday, north east of Hazelton.
Another size 2 skier-triggered avalanche was reported in the Shames backcountry in this MIN on Monday.
Natural avalanches remain possible, especially during periods of heavy snowfall, strong winds, or rapid warming.
Up to 100 cm of storm snow has accumulated in the past week. In exposed terrain, this snow has been heavily wind-affected by strong southwest winds. In wind-sheltered terrain, the recent snow remains generally low density and may be sitting on a weak layer of surface hoar or a crust.
Variable crust, facet, and/or surface hoar layers, buried throughout February, may exist within the upper 150 cm of the snowpack. These layers are most concerning near and below treeline, especially where the snowpack is shallow. Read more about the persistent slab problem here.
Below these layers, the remaining snowpack is generally well settled and well bonded.
Thursday Night
Cloudy. 2 to 3 cm of snow. 60 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -2 °C.
Friday
Cloudy. 10 to 15 cm of snow. 60 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -1 °C.
Saturday
Mostly cloudy. 10 mm of precipitation as snow or rain at treeline. 70 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -1 °C.
Sunday
Mostly cloudy. 3 to 10 cm of snow. 50 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -7 °C.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
