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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Apr 16th, 2022–Apr 17th, 2022

Alpine
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Alpine
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Alpine
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.

Regions

Glacier.

Daytime warming and sun has been softening the melt freeze crust by the end of the day, especially on steeper solar aspects. Keep this in mind and avoid solar slopes if they are warming up or sluffing.

Excellent snow quality on polar aspects.

Weather Forecast

Mainly sunny for Sunday with periods of cloud and isolated flurries. Ridge top winds will be light and variable. The freezing level will rise up to 1500m and the Alpine temperature will reach -6. A small storm system moves into the region on Monday evening bringing ~10cm of snow to higher elevations by Tuesday midday.

Snowpack Summary

A supportive crust (15-20cm thick) from valley bottom to ~2200m makes for quick travel in the morning (ski crampons recommended). Preserved soft snow can typically be found on polar slopes at higher elevations. Wind affected snow in the alpine from the Northerly winds from a few days ago.

Avalanche Summary

Natural activity has been minimal this past week. Be wary of cornices, limit your exposure below them and use extreme caution if approaching them from the ridge.

On Wednesday there was a size 3 skier triggered (on belay) cornice fall off of Mt Bonney. On Monday, there was a close call when a small wind slab nearly took a skier into a crevasse!

Confidence

Problems

Cornices

Cornice Fall is the release of an overhanging mass of snow that forms as the wind moves snow over a sharp terrain feature, such as a ridge, and deposits snow on the downwind (leeward) side. Cornices range in size from small wind drifts of soft snow to large overhangs of hard snow that are 30 feet (10 meters) or taller. They can break off the terrain suddenly and pull back onto the ridge top and catch people by surprise even on the flat ground above the slope. Even small cornices can have enough mass to be destructive and deadly. Cornice Fall can entrain loose surface snow or trigger slab avalanches.