Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Alpine
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Alpine
Natural avalanches possible, human triggered probable.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Regions
Glacier.
Wind slabs remain sensitive to human triggering in isolated areas. Use caution on steep solar aspects where multiple crusts are buried by a settling persistent slab.
Weather Forecast
Sun for the morning then cloud and snow for the afternoon with 5-10cm by Friday evening. Easterly winds 10-20km/hr with an alpine high of -5 and valley bottom rising above +2 as the freezing level rises to 1500m today. Slightly warmer temperatures and a pulse of precipitation forecasted for the weekend.
Snowpack Summary
A light dusting of snow yesterday brings the weekly settled storm snow to 60cm. Previous strong North alpine winds have loaded lee features. Storm snow is settling into a cohesive slab on a buried crust/facet layer down 70-90 and showing sudden test results. This crust exists on East-South-West aspects and most reactive around tree line.
Avalanche Summary
Several natural avalanches sz 2-2.5 yesterday morning out of the MacDonald Gullies 5, 9, 10 & 12.A reported sz 2.0 ski cut out of Nikki's Notch yesterday, see report here.Reports of whumphing and cracking in the settling storm snow and fresh windslab continues. Cornices are large, avoid lingering below them or venturing out onto them.
Confidence
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.
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.