Cooling temperatures will result in generally favourable conditions. Remain vigilant on steep wind affected slopes and slopes that are influenced by direct sun.
Weather Forecast
MONDAY NIGHT: Clear skies. Temperatures dropping to around -10C.TUESDAY: Dry and sunny above the valley cloud. Expect cool treeline temperatures, around -4C. Mostly calm winds.WEDNESDAY: Increasing cloud cover, but expected to stay dry. Treeline temperatures around -5C. Light southerly winds.THURSDAY: Light snowfall, 3-6 cm. Treeline temperatures around -5C. Light easterly winds.
Avalanche Summary
The warm up produced only limited amounts of avalanche activity, mostly small loose snow avalanches on sunny slopes. On Sunday a small wind slab was triggered on a southwest aspect and a size 2 cornice released on a north aspect.
Snowpack Summary
Recent warm and sunny weather at higher elevation has resulted in moist snow during the day on sunny aspects, freezing into a crust overnight. The snow has remained dry on north aspects slopes. Wind slabs are now old and hard to trigger. Cornices exist but are not unduly large. Still, they could still collapse during warm and/or sunny weather.The middle and lower portions of the snowpack are generally well-settled and strong. On southerly aspects you may find a thin sun crust with facets down around 55 cm. Recent sudden snowpack results on this layer indicate this could still be a failure plane on steep southerly slopes in thin snowpack areas. Professionals are also tracking a layer around 130 to 180 cm deep, composed of sugary faceted grains, feathery surface hoar, and a sun crust. The chance of triggering this layer is very low. In shallow snowpack areas, the base of the snowpack may also still be composed of weak faceted grains.
Problems
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.