Good skiing can be found in sheltered areas between 1900-2400m.Below tree line hazard will be low in the morning, but rising freezing level and solar heating will increase the hazard throughout the day.
Weather Forecast
Light flurries, 25-40km/hr SW winds with alpine high of -2 for Wednesday. Freezing levels rising to 2100m and forecasted to stay above 1800m until Friday. By the end of the week we might see up to 15cm of new snow at higher elevations.
Snowpack Summary
Good skiing between 1900-2400m in sheltered areas. Windslab along lee ridge-lines and cross-loaded gully features from SW winds. Mid-pack bridging basal weakness. Entire lower snowpack is weak with a combination of facets, Nov rain crust and depth hoar. Below tree line a supportive 20cm melt freeze crust sits above a weak facet layer to ground.
Avalanche Summary
No new avalanche observations on Tuesday. Previous cornice and windslab failures have triggered the deep persistent slab resulting large full path avalanches. Loose wet avalanches have previously occurred on steep south and west aspect below tree-line.
Confidence
Due to the quality of field observations on Tuesday
Problems
Cornices
Cornice Fall is the release of an overhanging mass of snow that forms as the wind moves snow over a sharp terrain feature, such as a ridge, and deposits snow on the downwind (leeward) side. Cornices range in size from small wind drifts of soft snow to large overhangs of hard snow that are 30 feet (10 meters) or taller. They can break off the terrain suddenly and pull back onto the ridge top and catch people by surprise even on the flat ground above the slope. Even small cornices can have enough mass to be destructive and deadly. Cornice Fall can entrain loose surface snow or trigger slab avalanches.
Deep Persistent Slabs
Deep Persistent Slab avalanches are the release of a thick cohesive layer of hard snow (a slab), when the bond breaks between the slab and an underlying persistent weak layer deep in the snowpack. The most common persistent weak layers involved in deep, persistent slabs are depth hoar or facets surrounding a deeply buried crust. Deep Persistent Slabs are typically hard to trigger, are very destructive and dangerous due to the large mass of snow involved, and can persist for months once developed. They are often triggered from areas where the snow is shallow and weak, and are particularly difficult to forecast for and manage.
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.