Avalanche Forecast

A few loose dry avalanches up to sz 1.

Recent storm snow totals are highly variable depending on drainage and elevation. The farther east you are, the more snow there is! While Burstall Pass area saw 10-13cm, on the eastern side there was closer to 20cm. This recent snow overlies a strong crust and is bonding well except at higher elevations where it is sluffing easily. Wind slabs are evident at 2400m and above, and could be sensitive to human triggering in specific locations such as along ridgelines. The deeper persistent weak layers are still a concern where the snowpack is thin or when the crusts break down with direct solar radiation and/or daytime heating. Moist snow was observed by 1300m at 2200m on Thursday on solar aspects.

Friday will start off rather chilly with temps around -14C. Throughout the day there will be a warm up to around -4C but it will feel much warmer than that with the mix of sun and cloud forecast. Winds will continue out of the east and there may be a few cm of snow that falls overnight on Thursday. The sun has lots of intensity at this time of year so pay attention to aspect and whats overhead as you travel. Stability will decrease throughout the day as temperatures warm up.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

• Avoid thin areas like rock outcroppings where you're most likely to trigger avalanches failing on deep weak layers.
• Avoid freshly wind loaded features, especially near ridge crests, roll-overs and in steep terrain.
• Use caution above cliffs and terrain traps where even small avalanches may have severe consequences.
• Recent wind has varied in direction so watch for wind slabs on all aspects.