The stable weather pattern should lead to a steady improvement in hazard levels. But it is very important to evaluate the snowpack carefully before choosing terrain, due to the complexity of the slab conditions at upper elevations.
Weather Forecast
Monday will be cloudy with sunny periods with no precipitation expected. Alpine temperatures should reach a high of -9 C. Ridge-top winds will be westerly at 30km/h. Tuesday will be very similar, but slightly windier.
Avalanche Summary
A few very small loose dry avalanches were observed today in steep Alpine terrain on SE, E and NE aspects.
Snowpack Summary
10cm of low density new snow overnight overlies a variety of previous surfaces. Wind affect begins at 2300m with highly variable wind slab conditions above this elevation. Easy compression tests are found at the new snow interface and a hard shear was found down 80cm within a facet layer. The Jan 6 weak layer was found down 45cm in our profile today, but did not produce any test results. A melt freeze crust (now buried) exists on all aspects below 2050m. The snowpack below treeline has become very weak due to prolonged facetting, making for deep ski penetrations.
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.
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.