Avalanche Forecast

Moderate - Intensity of incoming weather systems is uncertain

MONDAY NIGHT: Cloudy with isolated flurries, accumulation up to 5 cm, light to moderate southwest wind, freezing level 800 mTUESDAY: Snow, accumulation 15-30 cm, moderate southwest wind with strong gusts, freezing level 1100 mWEDNESDAY: Flurries, accumulation up to 5 cm, moderate west-southwest wind with strong gusts, freezing level below 1000 mTHURSDAY: Snow, accumulation 5-15 cm, moderate to strong south-southwest wind, freezing level 1000m

Recent avalanche activity was limited to small (size 1) loose dry avalanches that were sensitive to skier traffic in steep terrain.Several small natural wind slab releases were observed in the Whitewater area on Wednesday. These occurred on steep alpine features and may have been a product of recent northerly winds. Big thanks go out to our contributors to the Mountain Information Network. Please continue to post your observations here.

Ongoing cold temperatures and clear skies have formed surface hoar on top of the snowpack and transformed the upper 20 cm of snow into weak sugary snow. On Sunday, freezing rain up to 2100m produced a thin crust on the surface. Initially, incoming snow may not bond well with this layer. At treeline the height of snow is between 100 and 140 cm. 40 to 80 cm below the surface there is a closely stacked pair of buried persistent weak layers. The upper layer consists of surface hoar (feathery crystals) in most places, but may present as a sun crust on steep south facing slopes. The deeper layer features surface hoar above a widespread temperature crust. Both layers are thought to be widespread at treeline and may also extend into sheltered alpine terrain. These layers are trending towards dormancy, but may remain problematic on steep solar aspects.