Un-seasonally warm temperatures make for bikinis and board-shorts in the Alpine! Enjoy it for another day before we return to winter. Limit your exposure to large overhead features, especially on ice.
Weather Forecast
Inversion conditions pushing out of the area late in the day Monday with freezing levels jumping to between 2100 and 3000m during the day and nose-diving at night. As the high weakens the winds will pick up considerably and more seasonable temperatures will push into the Alpine. Only light precipitation expected through the week.
Snowpack Summary
Frigid overnight temperatures and day-time warming continue to settle the snowpack. Whumphing noted on pockets of windslab in exposed areas around treeline. Surface hoar formation continuing below treeline and a thin sun crust on solar aspects at treeline and above.
Avalanche Summary
Yesterday numerous loose dry avalanches up to size 2.5 in steep solar facing gulleys between 2100 and 2700 m. Whumphing observed in open areas at treeline on windslab. No avalanche propagation observed.
Problems
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.
Wind Slabs
Wind Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer of snow (a slab) formed by the wind. Wind typically transports snow from the upwind sides of terrain features and deposits snow on the downwind side. Wind slabs are often smooth and rounded and sometimes sound hollow, and can range from soft to hard. Wind 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.