Monitor for signs of instability and dial back your terrain choice if you see older storm layers still reacting to tests or traffic. The best, safest snow is found in sheltered terrain.
Recent storm snow and moderate to strong winds that have varied in direction have developed wind slabs on most aspects at treeline and above. Human-triggered wind slabs remain possible and are more likely in open terrain features.
No new avalanches reported.
On Wednesday, explosives control in the Duffey Lake corridor produced size 2 storm slab results. On the Hurley, 10 - 30 cm storm slabs became touchy to skier traffic in steep terrain, propagating far but with relatively low destructive potential.
Roughly 15 to 20 cm of new snow overlies a wind affected upper snowpack with wind slabs of varying age and reactivity in lee features, and exposed rock or December crust in open terrain.
Up to 110 cm of settling snow sits on the mid-December crust over wet snow. This forms the basal snowpack to about 2200 m. Above this elevation, a deeper crust with associated facets, formed in mid-November, can be found just off the ground.
Friday Night
Mostly clear skies. 1 cm of snow. 20 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -16 °C.
Saturday
Sunny. 20 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -15 °C.
Sunday
Mostly cloudy. 1 cm of snow. 30 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -10 °C.
Monday
Mostly cloudy. 2 to 5 cm of snow. 30 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -6 °C.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
