Natural avalanches possible, human triggered probable.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Alpine
Natural avalanches possible, human triggered probable.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Alpine
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Regions
Glacier.
Asses the terrain and snowpack, test areas of little consequence before committing to your line as the buried persistent weak layers will produce large avalanches if triggered.
Weather Forecast
Mostly cloudy with isolated flurries with the small possibility of sunny periods. The alpine high could reach -8°c, winds should be 15kph from the SouthWest and the freezing level would reach 900m if all goes according to the forecast. Isolated flurries, cooling temps and light winds are in our future as we enter the Christmas Holidays.
Snowpack Summary
10cm of low density snow fell onto 50cm of settled storm snow which will result in excellent cold smoke skiing/riding. There could be pockets of lingering wind slab in lee features and cross loads in the alpine and open tree line areas. The Dec 9 and Nov 21 persistent weak layers are down ~100-120cm and still producing Hard and Sudden test results.
Avalanche Summary
No new avalanches observed or reported within the last 24 hours. A widespread natural avalanche cycle to size 2 - 3.5 occurred Friday morning with the strong/extreme SW winds. A large size 3.5 avalanche from Grizzly Peak / Dispatchers Bowl buried 80m of the Connaught Creek skin track, which traveled over 2km from the alpine to valley bottom.
Confidence
Problems
Persistent Slabs
Persistent Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer of snow (a slab) in the middle to upper snowpack, when the bond to an underlying persistent weak layer breaks. Persistent layers include: surface hoar, depth hoar, near-surface facets, or faceted snow. Persistent weak layers can continue to produce avalanches for days, weeks or even months, making them especially dangerous and tricky. As additional snow and wind events build a thicker slab on top of the persistent weak layer, this avalanche problem may develop into a Deep Persistent Slab.
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.