Avalanche Forecast

Sunshine patrol reported ski cutting some small size 1 wind slabs in immediate alpine lee areas. Otherwise, no new avalanches were observed or reported on Monday.

It has been a week since the last skier triggered avalanches on the Feb 3rd persistent weak layer occured. These involved a skier remote in Purple Bowl and a skier accidental at the Cathedral Glades.

New surface crusts on all solar aspects and up to 2500 m on north aspects are buried by a skiff of snow. On high north aspects 15-20 cm of recent storm snow remains dry with some wind effect near ridgecrests.

The February 3 persistent weak layer remains a concern for human triggering in shallow snowpack areas on northerly alpine aspects where no crusts are found in the upper snowpack and the midpack remains thin and weak.

5-10cm of snow is expected on Tuesday. It will be accompanied by cool-ish temperatures of close to 0 in the valley and -10 at the ridge level. There is a good chance the wind will blow strong from the West, but at minimum, it will be moderate.

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• Remember that in the spring strong solar radiation and warm temperatures can weaken the snow in a matter of minutes.
• Watch for wind-loaded pockets especially around ridgecrest and in extreme terrain.
• Avoid thin areas like rock outcroppings where you're most likely to trigger avalanches failing on deep weak layers.