Always exercise safe backcountry travel techniques. Cornices and big south faces should be given a wide berth!
Weather Forecast
Today we'll start the day off with sunny skies and patchy clouds, no precipitation and light winds. The Alpine will reach -8 and the freezing level should rise to 1100m. The sun could pack some punch today, this will be the main weather factor influencing the avalanche hazard. Snow starting tomorrow and we could see up to 20cm by Friday.
Snowpack Summary
In sheltered locations there is 20-30cm of settling storm snow, sitting on a right side up snowpack. Isolated crusts on steep solar aspects can also be found under the new snow or buried/unreactive windslabs. Our persistent weak layers(dec 15th and Feb 13th), are buried over 1.5m and currently dormant.
Avalanche Summary
One small size one avalanche was reported yesterday beneath the Asulkan hut. In the HWY corridor, we observed one relatively small size 2 avalanche out of steep south facing alpine terrain. Two days ago Crossover avalanche path ran to size 3.5. This cornice triggered slide was an anomaly, but a great reminder to stay vigilant in big terrain.
Confidence
Due to the number of field observations
Problems
Storm Slabs
Storm Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer (a slab) of new snow that breaks within new snow or on the old snow surface. Storm-slabs typically last between a few hours and few days (following snowfall). Storm-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.