Avalanche Forecast

Riders triggered numerous small (size 1) storm slabs over the past few days within the recent 10 to 20 cm of storm snow. Otherwise, loose dry sluffing was noted in steep terrain, running fast and far.

Looking forward, the primary concern is new snow that overlies surface hoar and/or hard surfaces that formed last week. As the snow accumulates and forms slabs, they will likely become touchy to human traffic. There's uncertainty on when exactly this will happen so travelling conservatively and making observations as you travel will be key.

Around 20 to 30 cm of snow has accumulated since Sunday. This snow overlies large (10 to 20 mm) and weak surface hoar crystals in shaded wind-sheltered terrain, wind affected snow in wind-exposed terrain, and a hard melt-freeze crust on sun-exposed slopes. Southwest wind is blowing the snow into deeper deposits in lee terrain features.

Another layer of surface hoar and/or weak faceted grains may be found about 40 cm deep, particularly on shaded aspects.

The remainder of the snowpack is consolidated and strong.

Wednesday Night

Cloudy with snowfall, accumulation 5 to 10 cm, 40 km/h southwest wind, treeline temperature -6 °C, freezing level 500 m.

Thursday

Cloudy with snowfall, accumulation 2 to 5 cm, 30 km/h south wind, treeline temperature -5 °C, freezing level 800 m.

Partly cloudy with no precipitation, 30 to 40 km/h southeast wind, treeline temperature -2 °C, freezing level 1100 m.

Partly cloudy with no precipitation, 30 km/h southeast wind, treeline temperature -1 °C, freezing level 1400 m.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

• Watch for fresh storm slabs building throughout the day.
• Be aware of the potential for larger than expected storm slabs due to the presence of buried surface hoar.
• Storm slabs in motion may step down to deeper layers resulting in large avalanches.
• Avoid shallow, rocky areas where the snowpack transitions from thick to thin.