Avalanche Forecast

High

A few new windslabs were observed from steep alpine areas on N and E aspects. Some loose dry slides were also being observed due to the moderate to strong winds at upper elevations.

Snowfall over the past few days has added up to 5-8cm at treeline that fell under the influence of moderate to strong winds out of the SW. Watch for new windslabs up to 30cm thick overlying previous wind affect that formed earlier in the week in open areas. On Thursday this problem was showing cracking down 10-15cm along lee features around 2200m.

The snowpack is a 60-100cm dense upper pack that sits on top of a weak base that consists of 40-60cm of facetted crystals. This interface between the two is the January 30th interface and has produced repeatable sudden collapse test results over the past week. This layer (Jan 30th) has been failing on most of the recent avalanches. Unfortunately, do to the widespread nature of the weak crystals, the snowpack will be slow to change. Many recent avalanches have also stepped down to the basal facets and involved the entire snowpack. Repeated settlements (indicating that the snowpack is sensitive to a skiers weight) are still being encountered by forecasters as they travel, with many occurring at the treeline/below treeline features.

Winds are forecast to drop to light out of the SW with isolated convective flurries throuhgout the day. Temperatures will climb to -5C with a freezing level forecast around 1500m. The sun has lots of power these days so if it comes up, watch for stability to decrease on the solar aspects.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

• Avoid exposure to overhead avalanche terrain; avalanches may run surprisingly far.
• Keep in mind that human triggering may persist as natural avalanches taper off.
• Watch for newly formed and reactive wind slabs as you transition into wind-affected terrain.