Avalanche Forecast

Many slab avalanches were observed in the north of the region on Thursday. The avalanches were triggered naturally and by riders in alpine terrain on all aspects. The avalanches were 40 to 80 cm deep and occurred within the recent storm snow as well as on the weak layer described in the Snowpack Summary.

Looking forward, riders could trigger similar avalanches this weekend. Small avalanches could step down to the deeper layer, forming large avalanches.

Recent snow and southwest 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.

Friday Night

Cloudy with 1 cm of snow. 20 to 30 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -5 °C.

Saturday

Cloudy with 1 to 3 cm of snow. 20 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -2 °C. Freezing level 1000 m.

Sunday

Cloudy with 5 cm of snow. 20 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -3 °C. Freezing level 1000 m.

Monday

Cloudy with 5 to 10 cm of snow. 20 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -4 °C. Freezing level 900 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.