Avalanche Forecast

Fair - Timing, track, or intensity of incoming weather is uncertain

Wednesday: Mainly sunny with a few snowflakes possible. Cold (around -20C). Moderate to strong westerly winds. Freezing level valley floor.Thursday: Light snow possible at times. Remaining cold. Friday: The next frontal system is due to hit the region late in the day, bringing moderate-heavy snow, rising temperatures and gusty winds. Freezing level climbing near 1500m by the evening.

Recent reports indicate loose natural and skier triggered sluffing to size 1.5 in steep terrain. In addition, there have been a few skier triggered soft slabs to size 2. Explosives testing in the southern portion of the region on Friday (size 3.5 on a north aspect at 2700m with 200cm fracture) indicates that avalanches are capable of stepping down to deep basal facets with heavy loads. Cornices have also been failing and could be a heavy trigger for wind and persistent slabs on the slope below.

20-45 cm of low density storm snow has been redistributed by strong, gusty south-westerly winds. Cold temperatures have limited the development of storm slabs, but wind slabs and cornices are likely to build in size and consequence. Below the storm snow are various surfaces including facets, surface hoar in sheltered areas, wind crust, soft slabs and hard slabs. The mid-December surface hoar/facet persistent weakness, now down around 50cm on the eastern side of the range and as deep as 160cm on the western side, is generally producing anywhere from easy (where it's shallow) to hard (where it's deeper) results. Facets and depth hoar exist at the base of the snowpack.