Conservative route decisions will be the key the next little while. Give this new snow time to stabilize.
Weather Forecast
Will be very light snow on Sunday. -9 to -15, and light to calm winds. Sun, clouds, and cool temperatures after that. Little change is expected now until Tuesday.
Snowpack Summary
Up to 30 cm fell in the Icefields area on Thursday with moderate SW winds building touchy soft slabs on lee slopes at tree line and above. It rained at lower elevations making for a potential rain crust surface. This new snow rests on either a decomposed surface hoar layer that has formed the last few weeks or a facetted unconsolidated snowpack.
Avalanche Summary
Saturday natural activity noted up to size 3 running relatively far on a variety of aspects mainly in alpine. Explosive work was mixed results with sluff's to soft slabs up to size 2.5 on the range of aspects and elevations. On Friday, a skier accidental at Parkers Ridge, size 3, 1 involvement, no injuries. Depth 10-240cm x 400m x 400m.
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.
Loose Dry
Loose Dry avalanches are the release of dry unconsolidated snow and typically occur within layers of soft snow near the surface of the snowpack. These avalanches start at a point and entrain snow as they move downhill, forming a fan-shaped avalanche. Other names for loose-dry avalanches include point-release avalanches or sluffs.