Dial back your terrain choices if you are finding more than 20 cm of new snow. Use extra caution as you transition into wind affected areas where deeper, cohesive storm slabs are reactive to human triggering.
10-20 cm of storm snow overlies wind affected surfaces. Investigate the bond of storm snow to the surfaces below. Use caution as you transition into wind affected terrain where deeper more cohesive slabs exist.
A layer of buried surface hoar may increase reactivity and produce larger avalanches than you expect - this is more likely to be found in sheltered and shaded terrain features.
On Saturday, storm slabs were reactive to skier traffic to size 2. A skier accidental size 1.5, storm slab avalanche was also reported at treeline.
This week, slabs were reactive to natural and human triggers to size 2, and explosives control to size 3. Activity occurred on all aspects from variable wind loading. Most avalanches occurred within the storm snow or wind loaded features, while a few failed on the buried surface hoar layer.
Please post your field observations and photos on the Mountain Information Network. The information is beneficial to forecasters and fellow backcountry users.
10-20 cm of storm snow, overlies heavily wind affected surfaces at all elevations (Check out this MIN for wind effect photos). Expect deeper deposits on north and east facing slopes, from southwest winds.
A layer of surface hoar can be found on shaded slopes, and a sun crust on sun affected slopes buried 30-60 cm deep. Otherwise, the snowpack is generally well consolidated and bonding.
The lower snowpack includes a layer of weak sugary crystals near the ground. These facets are slowly gaining strength and have not produced recent avalanche activity. We continue to track the layer and watch for any signs that it could wake up and produce very large avalanches.
Sunday Night
Cloudy with snowfall tapering early evening, 2-5 cm expected. Southerly ridgetop winds 25 km/h. Freezing levels drop to the valley bottom. Alpine high of -8°C.
Monday
Partly cloudy with isolated flurries, trace accumulation. Southerly ridgetop winds 25 km/h. Freezing levels valley bottom, alpine high of -7 °C. Possible flurries.
Tuesday
Cloudy with isolated flurries, 2-5 cm. Southerly ridgetop winds 25 km/h. Freezing levels valley bottom, alpine high of -7 °C.
Wednesday
Mix of sun and cloud. Westerly ridgetop winds 25 km/h. Alpine high of -5 °C. Freezing levels 1000 m.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
