Conditions are improving but continue to exercise caution in wind affected terrain and during periods of intense sunshine.
Summary
Confidence
Good
Weather Forecast
Synopsis: A building ridge of high pressure should give the South Coast dry conditions with a mix of sun and cloud for the next few days. The freezing level is around 1000 m on Tuesday but could bump up to 1800-2000 m on Wednesday/Thursday. Ridge winds should be light and variable. The next significant weather system might reach our region on Friday bringing moderate snow or rain.
Avalanche Summary
Numerous skier and explosive triggered slabs were reported on the weekend - most were size 1-1.5 and involved the recent storm snow. No new natural avalanches were reported but visibility was poor during the storm. Rider triggering remains a concern, particularly in wind loaded terrain near ridge tops.
Snowpack Summary
Two recent pulses of snow accompanied by strong S-SW winds have built deep wind slabs above a hard crust and/or surface hoar. The buried crust is most pronounced between about 1500 m and 2200 m. The distribution of the surface hoar seems spotty across the region, but some operators found it to be widespread in their tenure before the snow began burying it. Where the surface hoar exists, whumpfing indicates the touchiness of this interface. Deeper snowpack weaknesses (curst/facet and/or surface hoar layers formed in November and December) have fallen off the radar, but they could be reawakened with a very heavy load (like a cornice fall or wind slab) in the wrong spot (like a thin snowpack area, or high elevation northerly aspects where there is no strong crust above).
Peter,
Avalanche Canada
