Friday night delivered 3-5" of fresh snow and gusty winds out of the south and west. Today you can expect to find small, but easily triggered wind slabs in steep terrain at treeline and above. Slopes steeper than 35 degrees that are directly below ridgelines and facing north or east will be the spots to avoid today. Overall snowpack stability is pretty good right now but, "heightened avalanche danger" on those specific terrain features is present today.
With warm temperatures and rain present below 4,000' it is possible you will see some loose-wet slides in steep terrain today. Likely small and benign, but as always, pay attention to the consequences and run out below your location.
Last night's storm came in on the warm side, with some pretty respectable wind gust's out of the south and west. Although 3-5" is not a real heavy dose of snow, you can expect it be blown in and slabby in all the typical spots. The new snow is also resting on some pretty firm surfaces out there, which will make for reactive conditions where the snow has formed into cohesive slabs. Entering into the top of a steep chute on a north-east slope is something I would avoid today, Especially below ridgelines and in terrain where taking a small ride has high consequence's.
(2/2/2023)
Our current weather forecast is predicting small pulse's of mountain snow and valley rain the next few days. With moderate temperature's present as well, we should avoid seeing much spike in avalanche hazard the next few days. Just like the "Turtle and the Hare", slow and steady wins the race towards snowpack stability.
On Thursday, Mikey and Kyla went looking for the persistent weak layer of buried surface hoar 10-20 cm under the Lucky Friday Crust in sheltered north facing terrain, but did not find any preserved at that location. The Lucky Friday Crust appears to be breaking down, with layers of partially faceted snow both above and below that failed with hard force and poor shear quality (Q3) in Compression Tests (CT25). No propagation was observed in our Extended Column Test (ECTX). By early afternoon we were shedding layers and noted moist surface snow that was sticking to our climbing skins and snow bombs dropping out of the trees. We moved off a steep and open south aspect and into the trees for the remainder of our climb. At lower and mid elevations on our way out we saw many new rollerballs.
There are still a few spots open in FIPAC’s upcoming Avy 1 courses, check out the dets on the Education Tab. Consider getting your ski/riding partners to sign up if they have not completed an avalanche course before. While you’re there check out the Doug Abromeit Scholarship for an opportunity to win an Avy 1 course scholarship.
Again, watch those steep and wind-loaded aspects. It is often easy for us backcountry riders to interpret a "Moderate" rating as a "green-light" to go send it. The "Travel advice" under a Moderate rating is defined as "heightened avalanche danger on specific terrain features", which is exactly the situation for this weekend.
