Avalanche Forecast

Fair - Due to variable snowpack conditions

Next active system (aka fresh snow?) not until Monday; likely to have lots of wind with it. Tuesday may be cold and dry (if you're under the arctic air) or warmer with more snow (if you're south of the arctic front).Overnight & Sunday: WIND becoming NW light to moderate, TEMPERATURE -5 to -10 C near treeline with freezing level to 900m possible, PRECIPITATION traces of new snow possible.Monday: WIND NW moderate to strong, PRECIP 10 to 15 cm late in the day, TEMP -10 C but freezing level could climb again to 900m ahead of the cold frontTuesday: colder with -15 near treeline, light wind, and flurries.

Mostly small loose avalanches (sluffs) up to 1.5 reported. The little bit of explosive testing had limited results to size 2I'd be watching for the recent storm snow settling into a slab on the sun crust or surface hoar... and for wind building bigger pillows behind ridges and in cross-loaded gulleys.

Storm snow amounts over the past few days are 30 to 40 cm with as much as 60cm reported. On Friday this snow remained mostly loose and powdery except for pockets of windslab behind ridges and ribs. On Saturday (&Sunday) look for this storm to be settling into more of a slab, and the wind could be building additional pillows of windslab. Below the new snow is a suncrust on steep southerly facing slopes and a surface hoar layer at treeline and lower elevations (but it has a patchy distribution). Early January surface hoar is now around 60 - 80 cm deep and is also patchy but may extend into the alpine.