Avalanche Forecast

Moderate

No evidence of old or new avalanches.

Well, we had to do it. We put our big kid pants on today and went for a long wallow up one of our classic ridges today. The trip took us up to about 2300m and covered east and west aspects. Here's the scoop on the snowpack. Between valley bottom and treeline the off trail travel is tedious. The 8-10cm of new snow isn't enough to bridge the facets and most steps are going to ground. Some lower areas have a crust down about 10cm which barely helps the travel. The support of the snowpack gradually gets better the higher you go. At treeline, instead of plunging to ground with every step, its only every 7th or 8th step that collapses to ground. At treeline, there's an optimistic 80-90cm of snow. The story changes once the open, windy, alpine areas are found. Here, the windslabs are supportive enough to walk on, but it doesn't take long for them to become eerily hollow. On westerly aspects, the alpine snowpack is almost entirely depth hoar. As for ski quality, it is variable and still requires a soft touch.

It's looking like flurries or even light snow will start tonight and carry on throughout the day tomorrow. Before you run off and dig out your goggles, I'll be honest. We're only expecting 4-8cm. But hey, why not wear the goggles anyway? They help with that wintery feeling. The added windchill of moderate westerly winds at ridge top will also add to the illusion of winter. As for the temps? We are looking at a fairly steady temperature of -8ish for most of the day.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

• Avoid shallow, rocky areas where the snowpack transitions from thick to thin.
• Watch for newly formed and reactive wind slabs as you transition into wind affected terrain.
• Be aware of the potential for surprisingly large avalanches due to deeply buried weak layers.