Avalanche Forecast

Moderate

On Thursday, several small wind slab avalanches were skier accidentally triggered, skier remotely triggered and naturally triggered up to size 1. All avalanches were reported on north and east aspects at 2000 m.

If you head to the backcountry please post your reports and photos to the Mountain Information Network, the information is very helpful to forecasters.

+20 cm of storm snow overlies variable surfaces including old wind slabs and a crust of varying thicknesses. Extreme southwest winds are transporting storm snow and building deep pockets in lees.

A crust from mid-January can be found down 40 to 70 cm deep. A number of weak layers exist within the middle and lower snowpack, but the thick crusts sitting above them make triggering avalanches on these layers unlikely. The areas of concern in terms of triggering a deeper layer are shallow rocky areas.

Friday night

Mainly cloudy with flurries, 20- 30 cm accumulation. Southwesterly ridgetop winds 40 to 60 km/h. Treeline temperatures -2 ËšC. Freezing levels fall to 1100 m from 1500 m.

Saturday

Cloudy skies and scattered flurries, 5-15 cm accumulation. 20 to 40 km/h southerly ridgetop wind, treeline temperatures warm to -1 ËšC. Freezing levels 1400 m.

Cloudy skies and scattered flurries, 5-10 cm accumulation. Southwesterly ridgetop winds 20 km/h gusting to 40 km/h. Treeline temperatures warm to -1 ËšC. Freezing levels 1300 m.

Cloudy with isolated flurries, 10-15 cm accumulation. Southwesterly ridgetop winds 40 to 60 km/h. Treeline temperatures warm to -1 ËšC. Freezing levels 1300 m.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

• Dial back your terrain choices if you are seeing more than 30 cm of new snow.
• Storm slab size and sensitivity to triggering will likely increase through the day.
• Storm snow and wind is forming touchy slabs. Use caution in lee areas in the alpine and treeline.
• Minimize exposure during periods of heavy loading from new snow and wind.