Avalanche Forecast

High -

After a warm day on Thursday, we can expect a slight re-freeze tonight, followed by another warm day tomorrow. The overnight low will be around -5, and by noon temperatures will approach zero. Blue skies will stick around for Friday and winds will be light from the SW. Later in the wee we are expecting some snow.

A few small loose wet avalanches on EEOR today. Mt Sparrowhawk had a more notable sz2 loose wet on a southern aspect.

Given the warm day, expect a crust on southern aspects and possibly even western aspects. Recent snow from earlier in the week is settling. This snow is overlying a windslab down 10-20cm that was seeing some isolated cracking today in the Aster lake area. Deeper in the snowpack there are two layers that we are following closely. The Feb 19th Facets down 40-60cm and the Jan 29th interface down 60-100cm. Windslabs (buried and near the surface) in the upper snowpack are likely to step down to one of these layers that are within the top meter. These layers are subtle at treeline but very pronounced in the Alpine. Dig down and assess these layers. Forecasters today avoided big slopes in the alpine due to windslabs over these interfaces. Moist snow was also found up to 2000m by midday.  

• Watch for newly formed and reactive wind slabs as you transition into wind affected terrain.
• Avoid lee and cross-loaded terrain.
• Pay attention to isolated alpine features as well as cross-loaded features at treeline.
• Be alert to conditions that change with elevation and sun exposure.
• Avoid sun exposed slopes when the solar radiation is strong, especially if snow is moist or wet