The season is young and the snowpack is still shallow. Plenty of rocks, stumps, and alder are visible to abruptly bring your run to a halt. Keep your tips up and the throttle down.
Weather Forecast
Unsettled weather continues to move through the central Columbia Mountains, bringing light snow today and another 5-10cm tomorrow. Winds should be moderate, gusting strong, from the W/SW. Freezing levels will slowly drop to valley bottom by Saturday.
Snowpack Summary
A combination of wind slab and storm slab overlay a surface hoar layer, buried roughly 25-35cm down. Limited field observations did see results on this layer in tests yesterday. Suspect it will be touchy with the addition of 20-25cm of storm snow overnight. Below tree-line, the snowpack is still well below threshold for avalanches.
Avalanche Summary
Sz 2.5 out of Macdonald 10 gully yesterday. Suspect more activity with new storm snow overnight.
Confidence
Due to the number of field observations
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.
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.