Touchy wind slabs are lurking in unusual places. South aspects, in particular, should be approached with caution, especially if the sun comes out.
Weather Forecast
FRIDAY: Cloudy with sunny periods and isolated flurries bringing trace amounts of fresh snow, light southerly winds, alpine temperature around -15.SATURDAY: Cloudy with sunny periods and isolated flurries and trace amounts of fresh snow, light southeasterly winds, alpine temperature around -8.SUNDAY: Mainly cloudy with light flurries, light becoming moderate southwesterly winds and alpine temperatures around -10.
Avalanche Summary
Reports from Wednesday include several relatively harmless skier-triggered thin wind slab avalanches on unsupported features, but generally no new avalanches. Wind slabs may remain reactive to human triggers in isolated areas, such as immediately below ridge crests and in cross-loaded gullies..
Snowpack Summary
Surface hoar and surface facets may buried by a light dusting of fresh snow in some places. In exposed areas at all elevations, recent winds have resulted in scouring, hard wind slabs, and thicker reactive wind slabs in unusual places as the winds shifted from west to northeast. Southwesterly winds are likely keeping winds slabs fresh in some areas, while old wind slabs are breaking down with faceting in other areas. The mid-December facet/surface hoar persistent weakness can be found buried 70-120 cm deep, and has been showing signs of gaining strength recently with no recent avalanche activity in the region. The lower snowpack is well bonded and features a thick rain crust near the ground.
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.