Avalanche Forecast

No new avalanches have been reported since a few small wet loose avalanches occurred on Saturday.

The upper snowpack consists of crusts, settled powder, unconsolidated facets, and old wind slabs. Beneath lies a thin and complex snowpack with two notable layers:

• A layer of surface hoar buried 30 to 60 cm deep has been concerning in areas where it is not covered by a thick crust.

• Weak basal facets near the bottom of the snowpack, especially in alpine terrain.

While these layers have been a concern for several weeks, they are becoming less likely to trigger under the current conditions.

Snowpack depths at treeline average 50 to 120 cm with significant variability across the region.

Wednesday Night

Cloudy with trace amounts of snowfall, alpine wind southwest 20 km/h, treeline temperature -8 °C.

Thursday

Cloudy with 1 to 2 cm of snow in the afternoon, alpine wind southwest 30 km/h, treeline temperature -6 °C.

Friday

Cloudy with 1 to 5 cm overnight then partly cloudy in the afternoon, alpine wind west 40 km/h, treeline temperature -8 °C.

Saturday

Cloudy with 2 to 5 cm of snow in the eastern Purcells and 5 to 15 cm in the western Purcells, alpine wind southwest 30 to 50 km/h, treeline temperature -8 °C.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

• Use caution on large alpine slopes, especially around thin areas that may propagate to deeper instabilities.
• Be especially cautious near rock outcroppings, on steep convexities and anywhere the snowpack feels thinner than average.
• Carefully assess open slopes and convex rolls where buried surface hoar may be preserved.