New snow has resupplied avalanche problems in the region. Be mindful of avalanche danger increasing in sync with daytime warming.
Weather Forecast
Wednesday night: Mainly clear. Light east winds.Thursday: Sunny. Light northeast winds. Alpine high temperatures around -1 with freezing levels to 2000 metres.Friday: Sunny. Light northwest winds. Alpine high temperatures around 0 with freezing levels to 2100 metres.Saturday: Mainly sunny with cloud increasing over the day. Light variable winds. Alpine high temperatures around 0 with freezing levels to 2100 metres.Overnight freezing levels will increase steadily during this period, dropping briefly each night to between 1000 to 1500 metres.
Avalanche Summary
No new avalanches have been reported in the region, but reports from neighbouring regions showed new snow from Tuesday's storm reacting to skier traffic, ski cutting, and explosives control with 10-25 cm-deep slabs propagating easily over previous surface crusts. All aspects were represented in reports, with a focus on north to northeast aspects as a result of loading by southwest winds. Looking forward, lingering wind slabs may remain reactive to human triggering and may become touchier with daytime warming. Meanwhile, an ample supply of new snow is in place to reinvigorate loose wet avalanche problems as sunshine and warming take hold each day.
Snowpack Summary
Up to 20 cm of new snow from Tuesday's storm accumulated above a surface of melt-freeze crust that exists in most areas above 1500 metres. Below this elevation the new snow buried variably moist or crusty surfaces. Precipitation as rain continued to saturate the snowpack that is increasingly isothermal (slushy and cohesionless) and disappearing rapidly below about 1100 metres.The remainder of the snowpack is generally consolidated and strong. Exceptions may exist on north aspects above 2000 m, where a gradually strengthening layer of faceted grains buried 40 to 70 cm deep may still be preserved below an overlying slab of old and hard wind-affected snow.
Problems
Loose Wet
Loose Wet avalanches are the release of wet unconsolidated snow or slush. These avalanches typically occur within layers of wet snow near the surface of the snowpack, but they may quickly gouge into lower snowpack layers. Like Loose Dry Avalanches, they start at a point and entrain snow as they move downhill, forming a fan-shaped avalanche. Other names for loose-wet avalanches include point-release avalanches or sluffs. Loose Wet avalanches can trigger slab avalanches that break into deeper snow layers.
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.