Watch for variable wind loading patterns as you gain elevation and maintain avoidance of overhead hazards like cornices and large avalanche paths. A heavy trigger in the right location still risks triggering a very large and destructive avalanche.
Summary
Confidence
High -
Weather Forecast
Saturday: Mainly cloudy with isolated flurries and a trace of new snow. Light southwest winds. Freezing level to 1800 metres with alpine temperatures around -3.Sunday: Cloudy with sunny periods and isolated flurries with a trace of new snow. Light west winds. Freezing level to 1700 metres with alpine temperatures of -3.Monday: Cloudy with sunny periods. Light south winds. Freezing level to 1700 metres with alpine temperatures of -3.
Avalanche Summary
Reports from Thursday showed loose wet avalanches releasing both naturally and with skier traffic in steep terrain from Size 1-2. Isolated natural Size 1-2 wind slab releases were observed occurring in steep, rocky terrain as a direct result of wind loading.On Tuesday there was a natural cornice fall near Golden that did not release a slab on the slope below. On Monday there were several natural cornice falls up to size 2.5 that released storm or persistent slabs from the northerly aspect slopes below. On Sunday there was a natural cornice fall size 2.5 from extreme terrain.
Snowpack Summary
Light new snow amounts and moderate winds (mainly from the south) have formed fresh wind slabs on the snow surface at higher elevations. The new snow has buried melt-freeze crusts on all aspects below about 2200 metres and in the high alpine on solar aspects. Isolated surface hoar may be found below the new snow on shaded aspects at high elevations. Below the new snow interface, last week's storms brought 40-60 cm of snow to the region. Several other crusts as well as moist snow are likely to exist within this storm snow, mainly at lower elevations and on solar aspects. Fragile new cornice growth also occurred along ridgelines over the course of the week. At higher elevations, the February crust/facet layer is now down around 130-150 cm and the deep mid-December facet layer and November rain crust both still linger near the bottom of the snowpack. These layers were active during a storm in mid-March and produced some very large avalanches. Occasional deep releases were also reported in late March and these deeply buried weaknesses remain a serious concern as warming temperatures continue to penetrate the snowpack at increasingly higher elevations.
cgarritty,
Avalanche Canada
