Snow that is being redistributed by the wind will be likely to avalanche.
Deeply buried layers are still a concern in very large alpine terrain.
Strong northeast wind has reverse or cross-loaded slopes at all elevations. The recent 20 to 40 cm of snow may bond slowly to underlying layers.
On terrain features that have been protected from the wind, you are likely to find surface hoar over a melt freeze crust. This layer is down 50 cm and has been recently reactive to skier triggering.
On Sunday, numerous mostly wind slab avalanches occurred. A variety of triggers initiated them including natural, explosives and skier triggered.
On Saturday a skier trigger avalanche occurred at treeline on a north aspect. This avalanche failed on a layer of surface hoar buried down 50 cm. Review this MIN report for further detail.
Last week 20 to 40 cm of new snow fell and now overlies surface hoar in areas protected from the wind, a melt freeze crust on south aspect terrain and sastrugi in the alpine.
Strong northeast winds are now reverse loading features at all elevations.
100 to 200 cm deep in the snowpack are layers of crust, facets, and possibly surface hoar that were buried in December and have not been recently reactive in this forecast area.
Monday Night
Clear. 50 to 75 km/h northeast ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -20 °C.
Tuesday
Sunny. 50 to 80 km/h northeast ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -16 °C.
Wednesday
Sunny. 20 to 40 km/h northeast ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -11 °C.
Thursday
Sunny. 10 to 25 km/h variable ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -9 °C.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
