Fresh wind slabs are sitting on top of buried wind slabs that are sitting on facets (weak, sugary snow). The fresh wind slabs are touchy and the buried wind slabs may remain reactive to human triggers longer than is typical for this region.
Summary
Confidence
High - The weather pattern is stable
Weather Forecast
WEDNESDAY NIGHT: Increasing cloudiness / Light, easterly winds / Alpine low -6.THURSDAY: Mostly cloudy with isolated flurries / Light, southwesterly winds / Alpine high -7.FRIDAY: Mostly cloudy with sunny periods / Light, northwesterly winds / Alpine high -12.SATURDAY: Sunny / Light, northeasterly winds / Alpine high -15.
Avalanche Summary
On Tuesday, numerous natural and human triggered wind slab avalanches up to size 1.5 were reported on a variety of aspects at treeline and above. These new wind slabs and/or the older buried wind slabs that are sitting on facets will likely remain reactive to human triggers for several days.Several size 2, explosive triggered, persistent slab avalanches were reported in low elevation cut blocks south of Revelstoke on Saturday. Persistent slab avalanche activity on the mid-January weak layer has slowed down but not stopped, with human triggered avalanches on this layer being reported on a regular basis. Check out the great photos from a recent
MIN. Take note of the low angle terrain and the light load of a single ski track that triggered this avalanche.
Snowpack Summary
Strong northeasterly ridge-top winds have created fresh wind slabs on lee features at treeline and above. Additionally, there are buried wind slabs on a variety of aspects that are sitting on facets (sugary snow) which may cause them to remain reactive to human triggers longer than what is typical for a wind slab problem in this region.Two additional weak layers of surface hoar have produced large avalanches in the region over the past month. A layer buried at the end of January is around 40 cm deep and a layer buried mid-January is between 60 and 90 cm deep. The mid-January layer may also be associated with a crust on southerly aspects. These layers are most prominent at treeline and below treeline elevations. The remainder of the snowpack is generally considered to be strong in most areas. However, isolated failures have occurred near the base of the snowpack in this region, or in neighboring regions, resulting in large, destructive avalanches. These avalanches have primarily been in steep, rocky, high alpine areas with a shallow snowpack.
jsmith,
Avalanche Canada
