Dial back your terrain choices when the snow gets moist or mushy and avoid cliffs, gullies, and steep slopes with trees.
Confidence
High - The weather pattern is stable
Weather Forecast
THURSDAY: Sunny, light wind, freezing level up to 3400 m.FRIDAY: Sunny, light wind, freezing level around 3000 m.SATURDAY: Increasing cloud, moderate southwest wind, freezing level around 2700 m.
Avalanche Summary
Several small wet loose avalanches have been reported in steep terrain with the warming temperatures over the past few days. On Sunday, a size 1.5 natural wind slab avalanche was reported on a north-facing slope at 1500 m near Sky Pilot Mountain.
Snowpack Summary
Warm weather is melting the snow surface all the way to the top of the highest mountains. Crusts may form overnight, but will melt quickly in the morning. The 80-100 cm of storm snow that fell last week is rapidly settling and bonding to a buried crust. Travel has improved below treeline, but there are still open creeks, alder, and other early season hazards. Expect snow depths around 200 cm at 1200 m and 60 cm at 800 m.
Problems
Loose Wet
Loose Wet avalanches are the release of wet unconsolidated snow or slush. These avalanches typically occur within layers of wet snow near the surface of the snowpack, but they may quickly gouge into lower snowpack layers. Like Loose Dry Avalanches, they start at a point and entrain snow as they move downhill, forming a fan-shaped avalanche. Other names for loose-wet avalanches include point-release avalanches or sluffs. Loose Wet avalanches can trigger slab avalanches that break into deeper snow layers.
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.