Remember to always use safe backcountry travel techniques and good group management. Use caution around cornices and unsupported shallow snowpack areas.
Weather Forecast
Expect unsettled weather today bringing cloudy skies with some sunny periods. A few cms of new snow are forecast today with potential for more with convective activity. Temperature in the alpine will get up to -13 deg with NE winds to 15 kph. Precipitation is forecast to start Tuesday afternoon with warming temps and increasing winds.
Snowpack Summary
Flurries have deposited 10-20cm of low density snow. In the alpine winds have created a variable windslab. On Solar aspects a supportive sun/temp crust is just below the surface. Below 1600m a strong temp crust exists on all aspects. The lower snowpack is still facetted and weak from the cold temps in Dec & Jan
Avalanche Summary
In the last few days two size 2- 2.5 slab avalanches occurred off of Mt. Macdonald. A size 1 wind slab was accidentally triggered on Glacier Crest aswell. Heavy sluffing was observed Saturday on steep, Northerly treeline features. The sluff was relatively small in size but could knock a rider off their feet or pile up deep in a terrain trap.
Confidence
Timing, track, or intensity of incoming weather system is uncertain
Problems
Wind Slabs
Wind Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer of snow (a slab) formed by the wind. Wind typically transports snow from the upwind sides of terrain features and deposits snow on the downwind side. Wind slabs are often smooth and rounded and sometimes sound hollow, and can range from soft to hard. Wind slabs that form over a persistent weak layer (surface hoar, depth hoar, or near-surface facets) may be termed Persistent Slabs or may develop into Persistent Slabs.
Loose Dry
Loose Dry avalanches are the release of dry unconsolidated snow and typically occur within layers of soft snow near the surface of the snowpack. These avalanches start at a point and entrain snow as they move downhill, forming a fan-shaped avalanche. Other names for loose-dry avalanches include point-release avalanches or sluffs.