Good ski quality in sheltered areas in Little Yoho. Although conditions are improving, we are still leery to head into larger alpine features. It will take a bit of time yet to increase our confidence.
Weather Forecast
Temperatures will moderate slightly from the bone chilling last few days. Valley bottom lows in the -15C range and highs around -7C. A few cm is expected on Saturday and up to 15 cm by Sunday afternoon with moderate to strong alpine winds.
Snowpack Summary
The upper pack consists of storm snow from earlier in the month that is fairly well settled with some wind effect in open areas. This overlies a well settled mid-pack. The previously reported weak layers within the mid-pack (Dec 15, Jan 6, and Jan 16 layers) are becoming stronger and only producing hard to no results with pit tests.
Avalanche Summary
No new avalanches reported or observed in Little Yoho in the last 48 hours.
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.