The best riding right now is probably on high north aspects, which is also where the hazard is the highest. Don't let your guard down when searching for fresh powder.
Confidence
Moderate - The weather pattern is stable
Weather Forecast
We're into a fairly stable weather pattern: seasonal temperatures and isolated flurries.MONDAY: Cloudy with light flurries, local accumulations to 5cm, light to moderate southwesterly winds and freezing levels around 1300 m.TUESDAY: A mix of sun and cloud with light snow flurries starting in the afternoon (5-10cm), light winds and freezing levels around 700 m.WEDNESDAY: Cloudy with light flurries (5-10cm), light southerly winds and freezing levels around 400 m.
Avalanche Summary
On the weekend we had a few reports of natural cornice fall in addition to lingering storm and wind slab avalanches, mostly Size 1.5 on high northerly aspects. Wind slabs (think northerly aspects in the alpine) are sensitive to light triggers and have the potential to step down and trigger persistent slab avalanches.
Snowpack Summary
We've had minor snowfall amounts (5-20cm) over the weekend with light winds. At higher elevations expect to find 25-40 cm of more recent snow slowly bonding to buried surface hoar and/or a crust, and blown into deep wind slabs near ridge crests. Below 1600m the moist snow has frozen to give a (sometimes) breakable (10cm thick in places) crust: Not much fun riding I'm afraid. Rapidly settling storm snow from last week is still bonding poorly to the previous snow surface from early February, which is now down 60-90 cm and includes a sun crust on steep sun-exposed slopes, faceted snow, as well as surface hoar on sheltered open slopes. The mid and lower snowpack are generally well settled and stable in deeper snowpack areas but may be faceted and weaker in shallower areas. The mid-December surface hoar/facet persistent weakness can now be found down roughly 150 cm. It has become inactive in the south of the region, but may still be lingering in the northern part of the region near Blue River and Valemount.
Problems
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.
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.