Avalanche Forecast

TUESDAY NIGHT: Partly cloudy, 30 km/h northwest wind, alpine temperature -13 C.

WEDNESDAY: Increasing clouds with afternoon snowfall, accumulation 2 to 5 cm, 30 to 40 km/h southwest wind, alpine temperature -12 C.

THURSDAY: Cloudy with snowfall, accumulation 15 to 25 cm, 40 to 60 km/h southwest wind, alpine temperature -9 C.

FRIDAY: Cloudy with snowfall, accumulation 5 to 10 cm, 40 to 60 km/h west wind, alpine temperature -10 C.

Widespread avalanche activity is expected to have occurred over the weekend and early this week, for example as described in this MIN. Looking ahead, natural avalanche activity is expected to diminish on Wednesday but riders could still trigger storm and wind slabs.

Around 40 to 60 cm of snow since Saturday has formed storm slabs in sheltered terrain and wind slabs in exposed terrain from strong southwest wind. This snow overlies hard wind-affected snow in exposed terrain and weak, faceted snow or surface hoar crystals in sheltered terrain, suggesting it may take some time for the new snow to bond to these surfaces. The next storm starts impacting the region Wednesday afternoon, which will form new storm and wind slabs.

There hasn't been avalanche activity on deeper weak layers for some time. Once we see a substantial warm-up, we'll be thinking about the potential for deeply buried weak layers to reactivate.

• Choose conservative terrain and watch for clues of instability.
• Watch for signs of instability like whumpfing, hollow sounds, shooting cracks or recent avalanches.
• Watch for newly formed and reactive wind slabs as you transition into wind affected terrain.
• Potential for wide propagation exists, fresh slabs may rest on surface hoar, facets and/or crust.
• Pay attention to cornices and give them a wide berth when traveling on or below ridges.