Avalanche Forecast

High - Uncertainty is due to the speed, direction, or duration of the wind and its effect on the snowpack.

Tuesday night: Mainly cloudy, alpine low temperatures near -9C, freezing levels valley bottom & ridgetop winds moderate southwest.

Wednesday: Mix of sun and cloud with isolated flurries, trace-5cm new snow, alpine high temperatures -6C, freezing levels valley bottom & ridgetop winds moderate to strong southwest.

Thursday: Mix of sun and cloud with isolated flurries, trace-5cm new snow, alpine high temperatures -6C, freezing levels valley bottom & ridgetop winds light southwest.

Friday: Snow flurries, 5-10 cm new snow, alpine high temperatures -3C, freezing levels 1300m & ridgetop winds moderate gusting strong southwest.

No new avalanches have been reported, except for sluffing of loose dry snow building mass to size 1 from steep wind sheltered terrain. In previous days, small wind slab avalanches were triggered with explosives, though they appeared to be more stubborn and isolated.  

Last week there was a significant avalanche cycle from heavy snow and strong winds. This cycle produced a few very large avalanches, including some that stepped down to deeper crusts and one that stepped down to the November crust in a nearby forecast region.  

Please consider sharing your observations on the Mountain Information Network. Thank you to those that have already submitted this winter!

Recent winds have re-worked snowpacks in exposed ridgecrests and alpine areas leading to scouring, cross-loading and widespread wind slabs in lee features. Wind direction has been variable, but largely from the southwest loading north and east aspects.

Below 1800m, 15-25 cm of snow sits atop a buried melt-freeze crust. Buried deeper are few weak layers of interest. Buried 40-90 cm is a layer of surface hoar crystals and a crust from early December with facetted crystals. These layers are showing signs of slowly gaining strength, but remains layers of concern. This MIN from the 27th near Mongolia Bowl reports a notable weak layer down 40cm.  

The base of the snowpack consists of a hard melt-freeze crust / sugary facets from early-November. This potential avalanche problem remains on our radar.   

• Pay attention to the wind, once it starts to blow fresh sensitive wind slabs are likely to form.
• Watch for areas of hard wind slab on alpine features.
• Approach lee and cross-loaded slopes with caution.
• If triggered, wind slabs avalanches may step down to deeper layers resulting in larger avalanches.
• Avoid shallow snowpack areas, rock outcroppings and steep convex terrain where triggering is most likely.