Travel early in the day to take advantage of the supportive melt freeze crust and be off solar slopes by mid-day. Good ski conditions can be found on sheltered north facing treeline aspects
Weather Forecast
High cloud will be accompanied by light NW winds. The freezing level is again expected to reach 2500m on Sunday.
Snowpack Summary
A 5 to 10 cm melt freeze crust on solar aspects below treeline appears to be maintaining its strength until mid afternoon. Isothermal conditions exist on shallow south facing slopes up to treeline. North facing treeline and the alpine snowpack are relatively stable with a well settled mid-pack bridging basal facets.
Avalanche Summary
The wet loose avalanche cycle continues on steep solar aspects from treeline to valley bottom beginning by mid-afternoon. A large (size 3) slab avalanche on a steep rocky west facing alpine slope ran full path to ground across from the Parker Slabs, likely a solar trigger. The alpine is waking up on south to west aspects!
Confidence
The weather pattern is stable on Sunday
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.
Persistent Slabs
Persistent Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer of snow (a slab) in the middle to upper snowpack, when the bond to an underlying persistent weak layer breaks. Persistent layers include: surface hoar, depth hoar, near-surface facets, or faceted snow. Persistent weak layers can continue to produce avalanches for days, weeks or even months, making them especially dangerous and tricky. As additional snow and wind events build a thicker slab on top of the persistent weak layer, this avalanche problem may develop into a Deep Persistent Slab.