Up to 30cm of recent snow in Alpine terrain with light to moderate northerly winds is making avalanche conditions touchy in Alpine areas. Most areas at treeline and below are still below threshold for avalanches to occur.
Confidence
Fair - Due to limited field observations for the entire period
Weather Forecast
An additional 10cm of snow may fall over saturday night and into Sunday. This new snow is falling under the influence of a moderate northerly wind so storm slab development will be ongoing over the next 24hrs.
Avalanche Summary
Conditions were obscured throughout most of the day on Saturday so there was never a good chance to get a look up into the Alpine. There was a size 2 Natural (suspected) avalanche involving a group of 6 ice climbers in the Ranger Creek area (R and D, Chalice and the Blade) on Saturday morning. We were unable to estimate fracture depth or width but the run-out extended 150m down below the ice climbs.
Snowpack Summary
Snowloads continue to build in Alpine terrain. There is still lots of variability in snowpack depths throughout the region so careful evaluation of slopes is needed. There are still minimal observations from alpine terrain so be sure to use caution.
Problems
Storm Slabs
Storm Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer (a slab) of new snow that breaks within new snow or on the old snow surface. Storm-slabs typically last between a few hours and few days (following snowfall). Storm-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.
Loose Dry
Loose Dry avalanches are the release of dry unconsolidated snow and typically occur within layers of soft snow near the surface of the snowpack. These avalanches start at a point and entrain snow as they move downhill, forming a fan-shaped avalanche. Other names for loose-dry avalanches include point-release avalanches or sluffs.