Reports have shown excellent conditions can be found below wind-affected elevations. The safest, best skiing and riding exists in sheltered areas where winds haven't had a chance to build slabs with our recent snow.
Summary
Confidence
Moderate -
Weather Forecast
Sunday night: Cloudy. Strong east winds.Monday: Sunny with cloudy periods. Moderate to strong east winds. Alpine high temperatures around -20.Tuesday: A mix of sun and cloud. Strong east winds easing to light over the day. Alpine high temperatures around -17.Wednesday: A mix of sun and cloud. Light east winds. Alpine high temperatures around -12.
Avalanche Summary
Winds have been driving avalanche danger at higher elevations, redistributing recent snow accumulations into reactive wind slabs. Skiers reported small natural wind slab releases, whumpfing, and shooting cracks on Thursday and Friday.
Snowpack Summary
In the alpine and upper treeline, the upper snowpack is composed of successive layers of aging, wind-affected storm snow layers. Our most recent new snow is likely to have been redistributed into wind slabs on southwest aspects by predominantly northeast winds. The upper snowpack has been faceting (becoming sugary) under the influence of recent cold temperatures at all elevations.Sheltered areas at lower elevations still hold around 20-40 cm of low density snow from a couple of recent snowfall events. A new weak layer of surface hoar was noted under the most recent 10 cm. Below this more recent snow, another 20-40 cm of older, faceted (sugary) storm snow overlies a widespread melt-freeze crust. In the central and northern parts of the region, it may sit on feathery surface hoar crystals in sheltered terrain at all elevations. In the south of the region, the remainder of the snowpack has been reported as well-settled.Around and north of Hazelton, 50 to 100 cm of snow may overlie two weak layers of surface hoar or sugary faceted grains.
cgarritty,
Avalanche Canada
