Avalanche Forecast

Fair - Due to the number of field observations

Yet another arctic outbreak is approaching, which seems to be the theme this winter. A ridge of high pressure off-shore is strengthening a predominant northwesterly flow. This will bring relatively dry and cool air. Ridgetop winds will blow light-moderate from the northwest and alpine temperatures will hover near -13. Skies will likely remain cloudy with some sunny periods Friday and Sunday. Light precipitation is expected Saturday.

No new avalanches have been reported. On Wednesday, several natural avalanches up to size 2 were reported from the regions to the south and results up to size 3.5 were seen with the use of explosives. The amount of human triggering has lowered but I seem to think it's just a lack of actual reports and not the real story. The buried surface hoar layer remains touchy to skier and rider triggers and I don't expect things to improve over the holiday period.

New snow up to 10 cm fell Tuesday night with light- moderate southwest winds adding more load to the upper snowpack. This brings storm snow totals 40-80 cm above a very touchy surface hoar layer that was buried mid-December. Below 2100 m this persistent slab sits on a thick, solid crust that has been acting as a perfect sliding layer. Persistent slabs remain touchy to the weight of a skier and rider, especially in wind effected areas. A hard rain crust with facets from early November is buried over 1 m down and is currently unreactive, however; triggering from shallow rocky and unsupported terrain remains a concern.