Cool temperatures have greatly improved stability but watch out for the late-day sun effect on steep solar aspects and cornices. A bulletproof crust below treeline makes for tricky skiing and high consequence falls.
Weather Forecast
A ridge of high pressure continues to dominate the weather pattern. For today, a mix of sun and cloud with a moderate NW wind, no precipitation and freezing levels below 700m. Alpine high is expected to be -8. The cold and clear weather is will last throughout the weekend. A weak low arrives late sunday with light precipitation early next week.
Snowpack Summary
Above 2300m, 15cm of soft snow sits on a supportive crust. Snow depth on the Illecillewaet Neve is 2.5 to +3m. Bulletproof crust bellow 2000m. Feb 18 surface hoar down 20cm, variable distribution to 2200m. Feb 14 crust down 20-25, up to 10cm thick. Variable windslab above treeline. Persistent weak layers down 1-1.5m are stubborn to trigger.
Avalanche Summary
A field team observed a small skier triggered wind slab from a steep alpine up track. Avalanches from the past several days have been triggered by strong afternoon sun on steep solar aspects.
Problems
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.