Stick to conservative slopes free from overhead hazard during strong winds, or heavy snowfall.
Natural avalanches are possible during strong winds.
Further snowfall adds more stress to buried weak layers. Facets, surface hoar and crusts in the snowpack may be more reactive, producing widely propagating avalanches.
Expect wind affect to have created deep, sensitive deposits in north and east facing terrain features.
Explosive control work on Saturday produced slabs up to size 2.5 on all aspects, and a recent natural cycle was observed up to size 3.
With strong winds forecast to continue, another natural cycle may occur.
Another 30 cm of snow is expected by Monday afternoon, bringing recent storm totals to 60–90 cm. Strong southwest winds are redistributing the new snow, building deeper slabs on north and east aspects while scouring windward slopes back to old crusts. In sheltered terrain, storm snow may be sitting on surface hoar or a sun crust.
Crust, facet, and spotty surface hoar layers exist in the upper 1.5 metres of the snowpack. These layers are most concerning at treeline and below, especially where the snowpack is shallow.
Below, the remaining snowpack is generally well settled and bonded.
Sunday Night
Cloudy. 5 to 15 cm of snow. 60 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -6 °C.
Monday
Cloudy. 5 to 15 cm of snow. 60 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -4 °C.
Tuesday
Cloudy. 10 to 20 cm of snow. 50 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -2 °C.
Wednesday
Mostly cloudy. 5 to 20 cm of snow. 50 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -1 °C.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
