Avalanche Forecast

Moderate -

Tomorrow a slight change with the potential for some flurries, Up to 5cm. The winds are forecasted to be light out of the NW and overall a cloudy day that is clearing in the evening. Temps will hover around -10

Forecasters did the purple knob traverse today. Conditions were as bad as some of the forecasters with 15+ years have ever seen it! Wind slabs that were cracking, but not moving. Sastrugi that will catch your ski tips, and the ski line stripped down to rock in many locations.

No new avalanches observed or reported today.

Yesterday a good MIN was posted that highlights the early season weak layers (Basal weakness) waking up in a very thin cross loaded feature.

 

Moist snow on some solar aspects (that will be frozen into a crust Monday morning), but this was limited somewhat by wind and occasional clouds on Sunday. Widespread wind effect and wind slabs in the alpine and open areas at treeline. In sheltered locations up to 15cm of lower density snow overlies previous surfaces, which gives acceptable skiing. The Dec crust layer down 100 to 140cm is faceting and produces moderate to hard shears. Forecasters continue to keep a close eye on this persistent weak layer, despite a long spell of minimal activity associated with it. If/when it re-awakens, large avalanches are possible.

• Be careful with wind slabs, especially in steep, unsupported and/or convex terrain features.
• Be aware that wet activity at low elevations is a classic situation for step-down failures in deeply buried persistent weak layers.
• Be aware of the potential for large avalanches due to the presence of a persistent slab.
• Watch for areas of hard wind slab on alpine features.