For the best turns look for sheltered areas, winds have significantly impacted open areas in the alpine and treeline.
10-20cm of soft snow has been redistributed into windslabs in lee features particularly at ridgetops. They appear to be stubborn to trigger but be sure to assess this before entering wind effected terrain. Watch for windslabs on all aspects as winds have been variable in direction.
A variety of crusts with facets above and below exist at the bottom of the snowpack. These layers are going to be with us for a long time and pose a low probability, high consequence situation if triggered.
Saturday
A mix of sun and cloud. Precipitation: Nil. Alpine temperature: High -16 °C. Ridge wind west: 10-20 km/h.
SundayA mix of sun and cloud. Precipitation: Nil. Alpine temperature: Low -26 °C, High -19 °C. Ridge wind northwest: 10-25 km/h.
MondaySunny Precipitation: Nil. Alpine temperature: Low -27 °C, High -18 °C. Ridge wind light to 15 km/h.
On Wednesday a size 2.5 Deep Persistent Slab avalanche was observed in the Churchill area along the 93N. It was triggered by cornice fall and stepped down to the Deep Persistent layer.
Surface snow redistributed by wind sits a variety of surfaces depending on location, including melt freeze crusts, sun crusts, hard wind slabs, and soft faceted snow. The midpack is weak and faceted. At the bottom of the snowpack are the early season crusts, which are faceting and surrounded by large depth hoar. The snowpack is 70-130 cm in depth at tree line, and thins quickly below.
