Avalanche Forecast

Good

A ridge of high pressure is strengthening a predominant northwesterly flow which will invade the Interior regions. This will bring relatively dry cool air. Ridgetop winds will blow light-moderate from the northwest and alpine temperatures will hover near -12. Skies will likely remain cloudy with some sunny periods Friday and Sunday. Light precipitation is expected Saturday.

On Wednesday, several natural avalanches up to size 2 were reported and results up to size 3.5 were seen with the use of explosives. The buried surface hoar layer remains very touchy to skier/ rider triggers and numerous avalanches size 1-2.5 were reported. I don't expect things to improve over the holiday period and suspect this layer is primed for human triggers.

New snow 10-30 cm fell Tuesday night. In some parts of the region the new snow is sitting on a thin breakable rime crust, but most concerning is the thick persistent slab (40-90 cm) which is sitting on a very touchy surface hoar layer buried mid-December. Below 2100 m this slab sits on a thick, solid crust that has been acting as a perfect sliding layer. Persistent slabs will be very touchy to the weight of a skier and rider, especially in wind effected areas where the slab is stiffer. A hard rain crust with facets from early November is buried over 1 m down and is currently unreactive but triggering from shallow rocky, unsupported terrain remains a concern.