Avalanche Forecast
Issued: Feb 24th, 2024 4:00PM
The alpine rating is Storm Slabs and Persistent Slabs.
, the treeline rating is , and the below treeline rating is Known problems includeAvoid all avalanche terrain.
Lots of snow and wind is overloading buried weak layers. Natural and human-triggered avalanches are likely.
Summary
Confidence
High
Avalanche Summary
Significant avalanche activity is expected to have occurred on Saturday but no new reports have come in at the time of publishing.
On Friday several small and large (size 2) storm and persistent slab avalanches were rider-triggered at treeline and above. Sometimes remotely from up to 100 m away.
On Thursday several small persistent slab avalanches were triggered by riders failing on the crust layer from early February.
Snowpack Summary
20 to 30 cm of recent snow with a lot more on the way sits on a drought layer of sun crust, weak sugary facets, surface hoar, and or lower elevation crust.
Another layer of surface hoar is down around 30 to 60 cm in sheltered areas.
The widespread crust buried in early February is down 50 to 75 cm and has sugary facets on top. In most places, this crust is widespread up to 2400 m.
The base of the snowpack is still loose and faceted in shallow rocky alpine areas.
Weather Summary
Saturday Night
Cloudy with 15 to 25 cm of snow. 35 to 45 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -4 °C.
Sunday
Cloudy with 15 to 30 cm of snow. 45 to 55 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -5 °C. Freezing level 1500 m.
MondayCloudy with 10 to 20 cm of snow. 15 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -12 °C.
TuesdayCloudy with 10 to 20 cm of snow. 10 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -15 °C.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
Terrain and Travel Advice
- Avoid all avalanche terrain during periods of heavy snowfall.
- Only the most simple non-avalanche terrain free of overhead hazard is appropriate at this time.
- Storm slabs in motion may step down to deeper layers resulting in large avalanches.
- Avoid exposure to overhead avalanche terrain, avalanches may run surprisingly far.
Problems
Storm Slabs
Up to 40 cm of new snow with more coming down has formed a reactive storm slab. These slabs will be more reactive where they overlay facets or surface hoar.
Aspects: All aspects.
Elevations: All elevations.
Likelihood
Expected Size
Persistent Slabs
This crust/facet combo layer is now buried up to 65 cm deep. Avalanches releasing on this layer will be large, dangerous, and unexpected.
It is also possible to trigger an avalanche from a distance.
Aspects: All aspects.
Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.
Likelihood
Expected Size
Valid until: Feb 25th, 2024 4:00PM