Avalanche Forecast

A few small loose avalanches occurred on Thursday within storm snow. No new avalanches were observed on Wednesday.

Looking forward, wind slabs may remain reactive to human triggers in steep, lee terrain features at high elevations. Such avalanches could step down to deeper layers, forming large avalanches.

Recent snow and wind formed wind slabs in lee terrain features at higher elevations, which may take a couple days to bond to the snowpack.

Around 50 to 100 cm of snow overlies a hard melt-freeze crust from early April. This snow is slow to bond to the crust where pockets of weak surface hoar or faceted grains rest on the crust, which is most likely on northerly aspects at treeline and alpine elevations.

There are no deeper concerns at this time.

Thursday Night

Mostly cloudy with 1 to 3 cm of snow. 10 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -4 °C.

Friday

Cloudy with 1 to 3 cm of snow. 20 to 40 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -4 °C. Freezing level 900 m.

Saturday

Mostly cloudy with 1 to 3 cm of snow. 20 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -2 °C. Freezing level 1100 m.

Sunday

Cloudy with 5 to 10 cm of snow. 30 km/h southwest wind. Treeline temperature -4 °C. Freezing level 1000 m.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

• Carefully evaluate steep lines for wind slabs.
• Look for signs of instability: whumphing, hollow sounds, shooting cracks, and recent avalanches.
• If triggered, wind slabs avalanches may step down to deeper layers resulting in larger avalanches.
• Pay attention to cornices and give them a wide berth when traveling on or below ridges.