Good skiing can be had right now. Watch the new snow amounts tomorrow and have a back up option if we get the storm early.
Weather Forecast
Snow starting overnight. Light, but steady flurries will bring 8-10cm by Friday night. The snow will continue for saturday as well with an additional 4cm. Light winds from the SW for tomorrow and temp finally rising to the -15 to -10 range.
Avalanche Summary
Nothing today, but lots of loose dry and a few small slabs within yesterday's storm snow.
Snowpack Summary
A few cm's fell last night, helping the ski conditions a bit. The cold has continued to facet the upper layers at all elevations and allow surface hoar to grow in many areas. At the moment, the surface hoar is small and not a problem. The buried surface hoar on the other hand became very apparent low in the Blackprince area. Lots of big whumphs and cracks in valley bottom. Luckily after climbing for a few minutes, it disappeared. Surprisingly, the mid pack is hanging in there and providing some support. The alpine areas have a small surface slab that was reactive yesterday. Notably at alpine and treeline is the buried windslab. It would come and go and seemed well bonded, but still on our minds. Lots of probing today to help solve the puzzle.
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.
Deep Persistent Slabs
Deep Persistent Slab avalanches are the release of a thick cohesive layer of hard snow (a slab), when the bond breaks between the slab and an underlying persistent weak layer deep in the snowpack. The most common persistent weak layers involved in deep, persistent slabs are depth hoar or facets surrounding a deeply buried crust. Deep Persistent Slabs are typically hard to trigger, are very destructive and dangerous due to the large mass of snow involved, and can persist for months once developed. They are often triggered from areas where the snow is shallow and weak, and are particularly difficult to forecast for and manage.