Get out the door early and be clear of solar-affected slopes before it warms up. The March sun packs a punch these days!
Weather Forecast
The biggest weather factor today is the strong sun that will hit slopes early, causing a rapid warm-up and freezing levels to rise to 1900m. Winds will be light with occasional moderate gusts from the SW. A weak disturbance floats through the area overnight, dusting us with trace amounts of snow and lowering freezing levels to valley bottom.
Snowpack Summary
Rain crust below 1700m on the surface. Above tree line the snow is generally wind affected, but pockets of undisturbed powder do exist in the alpine. The heavy over light snow has settled out, hence, travel has eased. March 2nd crust is down around 1m. The Feb10 surface hoar/crust interface is down 1.5-2m. The mid to lower snowpack is well settled.
Avalanche Summary
With the solar input and warm valley temp's we saw plenty of activity from steeper start zones in the highway corridor. Numerous slides from size 2 to 3.5 were observed, with moist debris in the deposits. Nearby operations are reporting many skier accidental and remote avalanches failing in the storm snow or deeper on the buried weak layers.
Confidence
The weather pattern is stable
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.
Cornices
Cornice Fall is the release of an overhanging mass of snow that forms as the wind moves snow over a sharp terrain feature, such as a ridge, and deposits snow on the downwind (leeward) side. Cornices range in size from small wind drifts of soft snow to large overhangs of hard snow that are 30 feet (10 meters) or taller. They can break off the terrain suddenly and pull back onto the ridge top and catch people by surprise even on the flat ground above the slope. Even small cornices can have enough mass to be destructive and deadly. Cornice Fall can entrain loose surface snow or trigger slab avalanches.
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.