Travel is good at lower elevation on a widespread and supportive melt freeze crust, and good skiing can be found up high in sheltered Northerly terrain.
Weather Forecast
Cool temps with good overnight freezes continuing until Thursday, when a warming trend pushes freezing levels up to 2000m. Convective snow showers possible, with the heaviest amounts forecasted for the North Rockies. Winds light westerly.
Snowpack Summary
Windslabs exist on lee aspects of exposed ridgecrests above treeline with a dusting of snow overtop. Buried temperature crusts below 2100m and sun crusts on steep solar aspects at various elevations. Cornices are big and heavy. Some reverse loading of exposed terrain due to moderate North winds in the past few days.
Avalanche Summary
Several point releases producing loose dry avalanches to size 1.5 on steep, rocky terrain, primarily on solar aspects. Flight in the Chaba and Maligne drainages observed no new slab avalanches or recent cornice failures.
Problems
Wind Slabs
Wind Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer of snow (a slab) formed by the wind. Wind typically transports snow from the upwind sides of terrain features and deposits snow on the downwind side. Wind slabs are often smooth and rounded and sometimes sound hollow, and can range from soft to hard. Wind slabs that form over a persistent weak layer (surface hoar, depth hoar, or near-surface facets) may be termed Persistent Slabs or may develop into Persistent Slabs.
Loose Dry
Loose Dry avalanches are the release of dry unconsolidated snow and typically occur within layers of soft snow near the surface of the snowpack. These avalanches start at a point and entrain snow as they move downhill, forming a fan-shaped avalanche. Other names for loose-dry avalanches include point-release avalanches or sluffs.
Cornices
Cornice Fall is the release of an overhanging mass of snow that forms as the wind moves snow over a sharp terrain feature, such as a ridge, and deposits snow on the downwind (leeward) side. Cornices range in size from small wind drifts of soft snow to large overhangs of hard snow that are 30 feet (10 meters) or taller. They can break off the terrain suddenly and pull back onto the ridge top and catch people by surprise even on the flat ground above the slope. Even small cornices can have enough mass to be destructive and deadly. Cornice Fall can entrain loose surface snow or trigger slab avalanches.