A spotty surface hoar layer is buried by a settling slab. Pay attention to cracking and whumphing as you travel.
Weather Forecast
A strong ridge of high pressure is sitting over much of BC giving us clear sunny skies. The winds will be from the West in the15-25km/hr range with an Alpine high of -18C... bbrrr thats cold, bring an extra layer or two! The ridge of high pressure looks like it will persist until later next week, with no snow in the forecast until next Friday.
Snowpack Summary
40-50cm of settling snow sits on the Dec 15 surface hoar, persistent weak layer. On steeper solar aspects this layer is a crust and/or a crust with small surface hoar on top. In the alpine variable winds have been redistributing recent snow. Deeper in the snowpack there are a series of crust layers that are currently bonding well.
Avalanche Summary
Numerous natural avalanches over the past few days up to sz 2.5 from steep terrain. The artillery control shoot earlier in the week produced avalanches to size 3 that were showing wide propagation in the start zones where the slab was cohesive.
Confidence
Wind speed and direction is uncertain
Problems
Persistent Slabs
Persistent Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer of snow (a slab) in the middle to upper snowpack, when the bond to an underlying persistent weak layer breaks. Persistent layers include: surface hoar, depth hoar, near-surface facets, or faceted snow. Persistent weak layers can continue to produce avalanches for days, weeks or even months, making them especially dangerous and tricky. As additional snow and wind events build a thicker slab on top of the persistent weak layer, this avalanche problem may develop into a Deep Persistent Slab.
Wind Slabs
Wind Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer of snow (a slab) formed by the wind. Wind typically transports snow from the upwind sides of terrain features and deposits snow on the downwind side. Wind slabs are often smooth and rounded and sometimes sound hollow, and can range from soft to hard. Wind slabs that form over a persistent weak layer (surface hoar, depth hoar, or near-surface facets) may be termed Persistent Slabs or may develop into Persistent Slabs.