Northwest Inland

Strong winds and flurries will build fresh slabs.If you see blowing snow, watch out for slabs in leeward terrain.

On Tuesday, explosives triggered several thin wind slabs up to size 2 in open areas above treeline. In the Nigunsaw area, a skier triggered a 35 cm thick slab on a steep roll, failing on large surface hoar on a crust. Evidence of older avalanches to size 2, 20 to 30 cm deep were also reported, failing on either surface hoar or a crust.

Up to 15 cm of fresh flurries covers 20 to 30 cm older, wind-affected snow.

The crust from early December is now buried 20 to 40 cm. In some areas, large surface hoar crystals are found at this interface. Most recently, the layer was reactive to skiers in the Ningunsaw area.

Below, the lower snowpack has no layers of concern.

Wednesday night

Cloudy with incoming flurries, trace to 5 cm of snow. 15 to 30 km/h south ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -15 °C

Thursday

Cloudy with flurries, 5 to 15 cm of snow. 30 to 50 km/h south-southeast ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -11 °C.

Friday

Mostly cloudy. 20 to 40 km/h southeast ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -7 °C.

Saturday

Cloudy flurries, trace to 5 cm. 40 to 60 km/h southeast ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -5 °C.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

• Seek out wind sheltered terrain below treeline where you can avoid wind slabs and find great riding.
• Avoid freshly wind-loaded features, especially near ridge crests, rollovers, and in steep terrain.