It's a challenge to find good skiing, but on the flip side conditions are great for longer tours and alpine travel. PW
Weather Forecast
Overnight alpine lows will be near -8, and will warm to -4 tomorrow. It will be mainly cloudy but keep an eye out for any solar effect should the sun come out. Ridge top winds will be from the west around 35km/hr tomorrow and no precipitation is expected. The freezing level is expected to climb to 1700m.
Avalanche Summary
No new avalanches observed today.
Snowpack Summary
Trace amounts of snow today accompanied by moderate winds and mild temperatures have not changed the hazard levels. Existing alpine surfaces are windslabs of various densities. At treeline wind slabs up to 20cm and of varying densities exist in immediate lee features at ridge tops and open treeline areas. Below treeline is still a breakable crust buried beneath 5-10 cm's of snow. It was mainly cloudy today, but the sun did make a periodic appearance and although brief it's effect is strong at this time of year. Combined with mild temps there maybe a slight crust tomorrow morning on steeper solar aspects to 2300m.
Problems
Deep Persistent Slabs
Deep Persistent Slab avalanches are the release of a thick cohesive layer of hard snow (a slab), when the bond breaks between the slab and an underlying persistent weak layer deep in the snowpack. The most common persistent weak layers involved in deep, persistent slabs are depth hoar or facets surrounding a deeply buried crust. Deep Persistent Slabs are typically hard to trigger, are very destructive and dangerous due to the large mass of snow involved, and can persist for months once developed. They are often triggered from areas where the snow is shallow and weak, and are particularly difficult to forecast for and manage.
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.