Prepare for adventurous travel below tree line where variable melt-freeze crusts and challenging skiing exist. Skier triggered wind slabs are possible in Northerly alpine terrain where you can still find winter snow.
Weather Forecast
Mainly cloudy with a chance of isolated flurries throughout the day. Alpine high of -3, freezing level to 1900m and Westerly winds 15-45km/hr. Similar forecast for the next few days with a possibility of snow on Thursday.
Snowpack Summary
Pockets of wind slabs at tree line and alpine elevations. The 15cm of recent snow buries a melt freeze crust on all aspects to tree line. Below the crust, the top 50cm is becoming moist during the day, isothermal in thin snowpack areas BTL. Elsewhere the lower snowpack is strong where over 2m.
Avalanche Summary
Reports of several size 1.0 skier triggered avalanches in the Connaught drainage from steep, wind loaded terrain. No new avalanche observations along the highway corridor for the past two days.
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.
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.