Take a conservative approach when the sun is beating down or it feels balmy, especially if you're not sure about the existence and sensitivity of buried persistent weaknesses.
Summary
Confidence
High
Weather Forecast
FRIDAY: Mainly sunny. The freezing level should jump to around 1700-1900 m and ridge winds are moderate from the E-SE. SATURDAY: Increasing cloud with a chance of flurries. The freezing level dips to 1300 m but climbs back to 1700 m late in the day. Winds should be light. SUNDAY: A mix of sun and cloud. The freezing level is near 1800 m and winds are light or moderate from the east.
Avalanche Summary
There were numerous reports of natural and rider triggered wind slabs on northerly aspects and cross-loaded gullies on Wednesday. Most of these were small (size 1-1.5) with a few up to size 2. There were also reports of loose wet snow with the 20-40 cm of new snow moistening and sliding on a buried sun crust. In addition, a couple natural cornice falls to size 3 were observed with numerous cornice falls being reported in the past few days.
Snowpack Summary
We've seen variable amounts of new snow but an average of 30-40cm has accumulated over the last few days in sheltered areas. Variable winds have redistributed the surface snow forming wind slabs and adding mass to cornices. On south aspects, the recent storm snow may have buried a sun crust. Lower elevations and south aspects are going through daily melt-freeze cycles. A layer of surface hoar or melt-freeze crust buried on March 3 is down 70-100cm and has been recently reactive in the areas north of Stewart. An older crust/facet layer buried in early February can now be found down over a meter but this layer has been dormant for several weeks.
pmarshall,
Avalanche Canada
