Avalanche Forecast

Wind slab reactivity continues to be the focus in recent reports. A couple of recent size 3 (very large) wind slabs in the Hurley area and on the Joffre massif are notable, but mainly add emphasis to numerous other skier and remote-triggered wind slabs in the region on a range of aspects, mainly reaching to size 1.5.

These reactive conditions have been observed on a variety of aspects in the alpine and upper treeline in recent days and are expected to persist for some time.

Wind and sun have created variable surface conditions, with northeast wind heavily impacting open terrain.

15 to 30 cm of snow sits above a widespread crust. Many areas have reported a weak surface hoar layer above this crust, which is very problematic in areas where wind has formed a slab above the layer.

Snowpack depths decrease rapidly below treeline.

Saturday night

Increasing cloud. South alpine winds 5 - 10 km/h. Freezing level returning to valley bottom.

Sunday

Cloudy. Southwest alpine wind 0 - 5 km/h. Treeline temperature 0 °C with freezing level rising to 1700 m

Monday

Cloudy with isolated flurries. Variable alpine winds 0-5 km/h. Treeline temperature -2 °C.

Tuesday

Cloudy with isolated flurries. southwest alpine winds 0-5 km/h. Treeline temperature -2 °C.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

• Avoid freshly wind loaded terrain features.
• Wind slabs may be poorly bonded to the underlying crust.
• Surface hoar distribution is highly variable. Avoid generalizing your observations.