Don't let your guard down with the sunny weather and fresh snow. Take a cautious approach towards more aggressive terrain - especially steep, wind-affected terrain.
Confidence
Moderate - Due to the number of field observations
Weather Forecast
We're into a period of fine weather for the foreseeable future, with significant warming from Wednesday onwards. Wednesday: Sunny. Light northerly winds. Freezing levels 3000m. Alpine high temperatures to +2 Celsius.Thursday: Sunny and warm. Freezing levels around 3500 m. Light northwesterly winds. Alpine high temperatures to +5 Celsius.Friday: Sunny and warm. Freezing levels around 3400 m. Light northerly winds.
Avalanche Summary
On Sunday, a Size 1 storm slab was reported in the north of the region - on a steep, unsupported convex roll. Otherwise, no new avalanches observed.
Snowpack Summary
Approximately 40-60 cm of snow from late last week now sits on top of a rain crust (or multiple crusts) that formed during the wet weather at the end of November. The snow appears to be bonding well to the crust with no avalanche activity reported recently on this layer.Up high, the main concern has been winds (first from the south, and more recently from the north) that have blown snow around in exposed areas creating drifts and scoured areas. The take-home message is that wind slabs can be found on many aspects at higher elevations - including some southerly aspects, which is an unusual pattern. Other than steep south facing slopes, much of the riding in the region consists of 20-30cm of low density snow that is right-side up (the snow gets more dense as you go deeper into the snowpack).
Problems
Loose Wet
Loose Wet avalanches are the release of wet unconsolidated snow or slush. These avalanches typically occur within layers of wet snow near the surface of the snowpack, but they may quickly gouge into lower snowpack layers. Like Loose Dry Avalanches, they start at a point and entrain snow as they move downhill, forming a fan-shaped avalanche. Other names for loose-wet avalanches include point-release avalanches or sluffs. Loose Wet avalanches can trigger slab avalanches that break into deeper snow layers.
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.