Avalanche Forecast

Moderate -

SATURDAY NIGHT: Cloudy with isolated flurries, strong southwest wind, alpine temperatures drop to -10 C.SUNDAY: Cloudy with sunny periods, moderate west wind, alpine high temperatures around -8 CMONDAY: Mix of sun and cloud, light northwest wind, alpine high temperatures around -10 C.TUESDAY: Cloudy with isolated flurries, light to moderate southwest wind, alpine high temperatures around -8 C.

On Saturday, skier traffic produced a few small (size 1) wind slabs at treeline and soft slabs below treeline. Some natural wind slabs (size 1-2) were also observed on north and east facing slopes.Slab avalanches are currently most likely in wind affected terrain. The key is watching for signs of the new snow becoming reactive, such as cracking, whumpfing, or stiffer deeper pockets of snow.

15-25 cm of snow has fallen in the past few days with strong wind forming deeper deposits at higher elevations. The new snow sits above a layer of large surface hoar crystals and sun crusts, potentially creating touchy slab conditions. In addition to wind loaded slopes, other suspect areas are steep slopes and rolls below 2000 m (where the largest surface hoar exists) and steep south-facing slopes in the alpine (where sun crusts exist). The middle and lower portions of the snowpack are generally well-settled and strong.