Another clear and chilly day for us tomorrow. Should be a nice day out there for some good skiing. Sheltered, areas at treeline and below will still have the best skiing. Keep the Feb 10th layer on the front of the mind as bigger terrain calls out.
Weather Forecast
The cold we are now experiencing is expected to pass by tomorrow (fingers crossed). The valley bottom temps will max out at -8 while the alpine stays cool at -15. The winds will remain at the moderate level (30km/hr), leaving the windchill as a mild concern. Some light flurries are also expected. One more intense pulse overnight tomorrow will hopefully leave 6cm's to freshen up the skiing for us.
Avalanche Summary
No avalanches noted today
Snowpack Summary
Moderate winds in the alpine have continued to have an impact on the snow distribution. Of note was the new crossloading of east facing terrain at alpine and treeline elevations. Faceting within the surface layers has been the prevalent change in the snow pack lately. Windslabs have certainly begun to lose some structure on northern aspects. No dramatic change for the midpack or basal layers. Generally the travel is supportive below treeline and the bridging effect of the old wind layers is still evident at treeline elevations. The layers near the bottom are still weak, as they usually are this time of year.
Problems
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.