Avalanche Forecast

Moderate

No avalanches have been reported today. But in the last three days, there have been two size 3 natural avalanches and one skier triggered on Miner's Gully. Check out this MIN for photos of the skier-triggered slide in Miner's Gully,

Approximately 25cm of settled snow remains dry on polar aspects and has seen little wind effect. Expect some wind effect starting on Friday with forecast winds. However, solar aspects have now seen several generations of sun crust, and will likely be moist when the sun comes out.

Forecasters are tracking 3 main weak layers in the snowpack. First, a buried sun crust on solar aspects, or a layer of facets on polar aspects, are producing some natural and human-triggered avalanches down between 20 and 40cm. Second, a weak layer of facets buried back in late January has occasionally been active down 80 to 100cm. A very large human-triggered avalanche occurred on this layer late last week. And finally, the basal weaknesses remain. Deep persistent slab avalanches are still possible, especially in shallow snowpack areas. This deep layer may also be prone to "waking up" as slopes start to get more significant solar input. Forecasters continue to have zero confidence in larger terrain features, and we continue to avoid significant overhead terrain.

Friday will be a mix of sun and cloud until the flurries begin near noon with temperatures between -8c and -3c. Winds are forecast to increase throughout the day from light to strong out of the SW.

Saturday and Sunday: Cooler with snow accumulation of 10-20cm by Sunday night

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

• In areas where deep persistent slabs may exist, avoid shallow or variable depth snowpacks and unsupported terrain features.
• Minimize exposure to sun-exposed slopes when the solar radiation is strong.