Stick to conservative terrain. Ongoing snowfall and stormy weather continue to produce reactive storm slabs.
Ongoing flurries and wind will continue producing reactive slabs. The added load may trigger slabs on the Christmas crust, especially on wind-loaded slopes at treeline and above.
Early Monday morning, explosives triggered several size 1.5.-2 storm slab avalanches.
Over the weekend, reactive storm snow produced natural, rider-triggered, and explosive-triggered slab avalanches to size 2, and dry-loose avalanches to size 1 in steep terrain. Most of these avalanches failed about 20-50 cm deep within the storm snow, however, one avalanche was reported stepping down to the December 24 crust.
20-40 cm of recent storm snow buried surface hoar in wind-sheltered terrain and a sun crust on south-facing slopes at treeline and above. At lower elevations, a crust covers surfaces.
Below recent storm snow, another 20-50 cm of settled snow covers the December 24 melt-freeze crust that is thin or absent in alpine terrain but thicker and more widespread at treeline and below.
The mid and lower snowpack is generally well-bonded and consolidated, with multiple crust layers present.
Monday night
Mostly cloudy. Up to 5 cm of snow. 30 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -5 °C. Freezing level 900 m.
Tuesday
Mostly cloudy. 10 to 15 cm of snow. 30 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -8 °C. Freezing level 300 m.
Wednesday
Mostly cloudy. 15 cm of snow. 40 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -8 °C. Freezing level 600 m.
Thursday
Mostly cloudy. 5 to 15 cm of snow. 40 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -9 °C. Freezing level 300 m.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
