Start early and finish early to take advantage of good overnight freezes and avoid moist snow in the afternoon. Travel conditions are fast and easy, and great skiing can be found on sheltered north aspects.
Confidence
Good - Freezing levels are uncertain
Weather Forecast
A good freeze is expected tonight with Thursday bringing sunny skies and mild temperatures. Winds will remain light out of the west and freezing levels are expected to reach 2200m. Friday should be much the same, but the winds will pick up considerably. Saturday may see some light precipitation.
Avalanche Summary
A few solar triggered sluffs occurred this afternoon up to size 1.5. A few slab avalanches have occurred on steep alpine features on N and E aspects in the past 24 to 36hrs. These generally occurred immediately below cliff bands and ranged between 25 and 50cm deep.
Snowpack Summary
Polar aspects continue to hold up to 30cm of low density snow. Isolated wind effect and small pockets of wind slab are found in alpine areas immediately below ridgecrest. Moist snow on solar aspects up to mountaintop and on all aspects below 2100m by midday.
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.
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.