Early season hazards are lurking below below the snow surface, ski and ride cautiously and defensively once below treeline.Watch for sluff accumulation in steep terrain.
Weather Forecast
No snow in todays forecast with mainly cloudy skies, an alpine high of -7, light winds from the south and a freezing level that could reach up to 1300m. 5cm of snow forecasted for Sunday and 30cm by Monday will be accompanied by strong southerly winds with temps remaining below zero.
Snowpack Summary
A light dusting of snow overnight, with 25-40cm overlying the Halloween crust at treeline. The crust sits on 50-70cm of rounds/mixed forms which cover the earlier October crusts. Snowpack is 80-110cm above 1900m. Variable windslab (unreactive to riders) in the alpine from strong northerly winds last week now covered by recent snowfall (10-15cm).
Avalanche Summary
Several days ago two natural wind slab avalanches were observed in the HWY corridor off Mt Macdonald on steep terrain to size 1.5. No other natural or rider triggered avalanches have been reported recently.
Confidence
Due to the number and quality of field observations
Problems
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.