Cold temps and sun shine will dominate this weekend, bundle up and look for good skiing in sheltered areas! "The Burn" in the Beauty Creek area is now open for fresh tracks this weekend.
Weather Forecast
Overnight temperatures are headed way down into the sub -20 to -30 range with little recovery during the day and a forecasted moderate breeze through the weekend. This will make travel into open terrain above tree line potentially pretty miserable.
Snowpack Summary
The snowpack is well settled with a supportive mid-pack above 1,900m. Above this elevation a concerning weakness can be found consisting of decomposing surface hoar and or facetted grains. This may be found 30-70cm down. Moderate winds have stiffened the surface snow in open areas above tree line. Solar aspects below 1,900m will have a sun crust.
Avalanche Summary
One avalanche observed in a open, south facing, cross-loaded gully feature at 2500m on a 35 degree slope. This was likely the result of the current wind transport and overloading of the facet layer down 50-70cms.
Problems
Wind Slabs
Wind Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer of snow (a slab) formed by the wind. Wind typically transports snow from the upwind sides of terrain features and deposits snow on the downwind side. Wind slabs are often smooth and rounded and sometimes sound hollow, and can range from soft to hard. Wind slabs that form over a persistent weak layer (surface hoar, depth hoar, or near-surface facets) may be termed Persistent Slabs or may develop into Persistent Slabs.
Persistent Slabs
Persistent Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer of snow (a slab) in the middle to upper snowpack, when the bond to an underlying persistent weak layer breaks. Persistent layers include: surface hoar, depth hoar, near-surface facets, or faceted snow. Persistent weak layers can continue to produce avalanches for days, weeks or even months, making them especially dangerous and tricky. As additional snow and wind events build a thicker slab on top of the persistent weak layer, this avalanche problem may develop into a Deep Persistent Slab.