Avalanche Forecast

Fair - Forecast snowfall amounts are uncertain

Monday: Up to 10cms overnight Sunday. Trace of new snow through the day. Ridgetop winds 25km/hr from the NW. Tuesday: 5-10cms forecast later in the afternoon with rising freezing levels up to 1500m. Another 10cms Tuesday night. Winds will be strong from the SW. Wednesday: Snow amounts near 5cms. Freezing levels near 1000m. Ridgetop winds strong from the West.

A skier remotely triggered a size 3 slab avalanche from ridgetop. This slide was at 2200m on a North-North East aspect and ran 400m in length. In the same tenure a size 2 skier remote was triggered. There were no involvements with these avalanches. This is a good indicator to be aware of the sensitivity in your local snowpack, and make observations while you travel. On Saturday, a widespread cycle of small avalanches (size 1) occurred in the most recent storm snow. Loose and slab avalanche activity was reported, with crowns up to 30 cm deep on all aspects and at all elevations. Explosive testing was able to produce slab avalanches to size 2. With forecast snow, wind and rising freezing levels the avalanche danger will be on the rise.

Over the weekend up to 35cms of new snow fell. This new snow came in much denser that the previous, cold storm. This has formed storm slabs at all elevations, and wind slabs in the alpine. These slabs are reported to be quite reactive due to their poor bond on the cold snow interface below. The second layer of concern is a crust that lies down 50-60cms and exists below 1900m. The bond with this crust appears to be quite good, however, on steep slopes this could easily act as a weak interface, potentially creating a layer for avalanches that initiate in the upper snow to step down to. This will be a layer to watch with more snow load and rising freezing levels on Tuesday-Wednesday. Layers of concern deeper in the snowpack include a surface hoar/facet layer from mid-December and weak basal facets at the base of the snowpack in shallow snow areas. These layers have become less of a concern in the vast majority of locations. Snowpack depths in the region are around 240 cm.