Lots of recent snow is available for transport at treeline and above. New windslabs will quickly build as winds increase. Be sure to keep a keen eye on localized wind direction and intensity as you travel.
Summary
Confidence
Fair - Wind speed and direction is uncertain on Saturday
Weather Forecast
We may see an additional few cm overnight and throughout the day on Saturday. Winds are forecasted to increase at higher elevations into the moderate to strong range out of the west. Lots of snow is available for transport so winds will be very important to pay attention to over the weekend. Freezing levels will remain at valley floor.
Avalanche Summary
Numerous loose dry sluffs from steep alpine features up to sz 1.5. A sz 2 slab was also observed on Mt Buller on a NW aspect at 2400m that failed at ground and ran into mature timber.
Snowpack Summary
50cm of recent storm snow has fallen over the past few days. This new snow has fallen with generally very little to no wind affect. This new snow is settling especially at lower elevations under the influence of warm temperatures. Moderate sudden planar shears are being observed at the storm snow interface down 50cm and in areas traveled on Friday the 0211 layer was found down 120cm but produced no significant results. This layer is still highly variable in terms of test results and in some thinner areas easy results can still be expected. Late in the day Alpine winds were increasing and we suspect, new skier triggerable windslabs are building.
mike.koppang,
Alberta Parks
