Wednesday's storm snow will begin to hide the damage caused by strong north wind earlier this week. Seeking out sheltered trees will keep you out of wind slab territory and offer the best riding as the first in a series of storms impacts the region.
Two layers that cause concern:
Wednesday's new storm snow will begin to hide wind slabs formed by previously strong winds out of the North which were followed by wind out of the southwest. Cold temperatures have limited the reactivity of these slabs, but they main remain problematic near ridge top, especially in more extreme terrain.
We’re moving into a period where it’s one storm after the next for the foreseeable future and it should warm up a bit beginning Saturday morning. The storms that are lining up are not particularly juicy, but light snowfall should be pretty consistent.
TUESDAY NIGHT: Moderate to strong west wind, 1 to 8 cm of very light density snow possible.
WEDNESDAY: Broken cloud cover, freezing level at valley bottom, moderate to strong wind generally out of the south, 1 to 5 cm of very light density snow possible during the day with potential for 2 to 10 cm of snow Wednesday night.
THURSDAY: Broken cloud cover, freezing level at valley bottom, moderate to strong southwest wind, 1 to 5 cm of snow possible.
FRIDAY: Broken cloud cover, freezing level at valley bottom, moderate to strong south/southwest wind, 1 to 5 cm of snow possible.
On Monday small wind and storm slabs to size 1.5 were observed in the recent storm snow. Interesting to note that wind slabs were observed in open treeline features which speaks to the tenacity of Sunday's north wind event.
No new avalanche activity to report from Sunday.
On Saturday, the snowpack was reactive to explosive triggers. Some avalanches stepped down to a feathery surface hoar layer buried 50-60 cm deep.
On Thursday explosive control work produced a size 2 avalanche off the Duffey Lake road that released on the mid November facet/crust layer.
On Sunday funky wind out of the N/NE associated with an Arctic Front likely formed fresh wind slabs in locations we aren't used to seeing them. The subsequent cold temperatures should be helping the upper snowpack to settle out quite rapidly.
Previous to Sunday's wind event the riding quality has been phenomenal throughout the region, but there are still some areas for concern deeper in the snowpack:
