Avalanche Forecast

Thursday night: light to moderate wind from the northeast in the alpine, moderate to strong outflow winds will likely continue at valley bottoms. Low of -20 at 900m. No new snow expected.

Friday: sunny with no new snow expected. Moderate northeast winds in the alpine with moderate to strong outflow winds at valley bottoms. A high of -18 at 900m.

Saturday: sunny with no new snow expected. Winds will be moderate from the northeast in the alpine with a high of -22 at 900m.

Sunday: sunny with no new snow expected. Winds will be moderate to strong from the northeast in the alpine. High of -22 at 900m.

On Wednesday one natural wind slab size 2 was observed on a southwest slope at 1300m.

Loose dry avalanches up to size 2 were observed in steep terrain on all aspects.

Wind slab can be found on all aspects. As the temperatures drop the wind slab will start to facet out. Ongoing outflow winds could create wind slab in cross loaded features at lower elevations.

A new surface hoar layer was buried on Tuesday, it is not a problem yet.

The December 18th surface hoar/facet layer is down 30cm, the surface hoar was observed up to 12mm in both the treeline and below . It is likely only a problem in isolated locations in the treeline where wind slab has formed above it.

The December 7 persistent weak layer is now typically down 100cm and has not produced avalanches in over a week.

Snowpack depths vary greatly across the region, expect to find anywhere from 100-300 cm of snow around treeline.

• Seek out sheltered terrain where new snow hasn't been wind-affected.
• Recent wind has varied in direction so watch for wind slabs on all aspects.
• Loose avalanches may start small but they can grow and push you into dangerous terrain.