Avalanche Forecast

Low

There have been very few reports from this region in the past few days.

Over the weekend, there were numerous reports of natural and skier-triggered persistent slabs, mainly at treeline, up to size 2. Check out this MIN from Powder King on Saturday and this MIN in Torpy on Friday. We suspect these avalanches ran on one of the surface hoar layers in the top meter of the snowpack.

Looking forward to Wednesday, buried weak layers continue to be the main concern.

Recent strong winds have created heavily wind-affected surfaces in the alpine and treeline. Below treeline a new crust is on or near the surface.

The mid pack contains several layers of note; a layer of surface hoar and a crust down 20 to 30 cm , a significant crust from the early December rain event down around 50 cm and a layer of surface hoar down 60 to 100 cm.

Snowpack depth throughout this region is highly variable and as a result the depths of the above mentioned layers are approximate and could be different than what you find in your riding area.

Tuesday Night

Clearing. Southwest alpine wind 80 km/h dropping to 40 km/h. Treeline temperature -5 °C. Freezing level dropping to valley bottom.

Wednesday

A mix of sun and cloud. Southwest alpine wind 40 to 60 km/h. Treeline temperature rising to 0 °C. Freezing level rising to 2500 m in the south, 1500 m in the north.

Thursday

A mix of sun and cloud. Southwest alpine wind 40 to 60 km/h. Treeline temperature 0 °C. Freezing level 1500 m.

Friday

A mix of sun and cloud. South alpine wind 30 to 50 km/h. Treeline temperature 1 °C. Freezing level rising to 2500 m.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

• Any steep opening in the trees should be treated as suspect right now.
• Avoid steep, rocky, and wind effected areas where triggering slabs is more likely.
• Use careful route-finding and stick to moderate slope angles with low consequences.