There is good quality snow to be found on sheltered Northerly aspects. Be cautious on steep hard snow with dangerous fall potential.
Weather Forecast
Today a mix of sun and cloud with light ridge winds, tomorrow light to mod winds out of the North. Continued below seasonal temperatures with a high of -11.0 in the alpine. No precip in the near forecast.
Snowpack Summary
5cm of snow has buried various surfaces, with moderate winds moving it around. On steep solar aspects it will bond poorly to a suncrust, and elsewhere it will help preserve surface hoar and surface facets. In the alpine it hides hard windslabs and challenging skiing. The mid-pack is well settled and strong, with weaker basal layers.
Avalanche Summary
Isolated small pockets of wind slabs up to 20cm deep and small loose avalanches (sluffs) have been triggered by skiers in steep terrain. Recently, field teams were able to ski-cut thin (5cm) hard slabs in wind affected areas in the alpine.
Problems
Loose Dry
Loose Dry avalanches are the release of dry unconsolidated snow and typically occur within layers of soft snow near the surface of the snowpack. These avalanches start at a point and entrain snow as they move downhill, forming a fan-shaped avalanche. Other names for loose-dry avalanches include point-release avalanches or sluffs.
Wind Slabs
Wind Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer of snow (a slab) formed by the wind. Wind typically transports snow from the upwind sides of terrain features and deposits snow on the downwind side. Wind slabs are often smooth and rounded and sometimes sound hollow, and can range from soft to hard. Wind slabs that form over a persistent weak layer (surface hoar, depth hoar, or near-surface facets) may be termed Persistent Slabs or may develop into Persistent Slabs.