Strong winds and new snow will create wind slabs - watch for changing conditions and avoid freshly loaded features.
Cornices have been sensitive to triggering and may collapse with additional snow load.
New snow and strong winds will create pockets of wind slab in alpine and exposed tree line lees. Avoid recently loaded areas - wind slabs are most reactive while they are forming.
Cornices are large and fragile right now. Recent cornice failures have triggered slabs below. Manage your exposure to overhead hazards.
A persistent weak layer of facets is down 80–120 cm and may still be triggerable by humans in shallow areas, and by large loads like collapsing cornices or wet loose avalanches. This problem exists on all aspects, but has been most active on solar slopes.
On Monday, our field team observed a new cornice failure near Snowdome.
Saturday's patrol along the Icefields and the Maligne range noted cornice failures of which some are triggering slabs on the slopes below.
Five centimeters of new snow are sitting on preserved dry snow in the high North and a variety of melt forms on solar slopes and at lower elevations. Below 2300m, multiple melt-freeze crusts are layered in the snowpack.
The January 24th layer is buried 80–120 cm deep and remains a lingering concern in the alpine. The lower snowpack is generally well consolidated in deeper areas, while shallow areas remain weaker and more faceted.
Snowfall on Tuesday night could accumulate 10cm with another 5cm falling through the day on Wednesday. This new snow will come with strong alpine winds, cloudy skies and a freezing level descending to valley bottom. Alpine temperatures will reach -8C . Clouds will break on Thursday while the low-pressure tracks south and cooler air moves in.
