Choose your route to avoid exposure to sun-baked terrain and slopes overhung by cornices.
Confidence
Moderate - Timing or intensity of solar radiation is uncertain
Weather Forecast
Hot weather continues through the weekend, with the freezing level around 2500 m. A brief disturbance on Saturday may bring some cloud and light drizzle before mainly sunny days on Sunday/Monday. A front passing through late on Monday is expected to bring around 10 mm precipitation, with the freezing level around 1800 m.
Avalanche Summary
A natural cycle of size 1-2 loose wet and occasional wet slab avalanches has been reported over the last few days. This is likely to continue as long as temperatures remain high. An isolated size 2 wind slab was also observed on Wednesday.
Snowpack Summary
Large cornices which overhang alpine slopes will be weak with prolonged warming and sunshine. Recent storm snow (which was deepest in the south-east) has settled with continued warm temperatures. Crusts which have been forming at the surface by night have been breaking down quickly by day. A hard crust buried around 20-60 cm down may act as a sliding layer for wet slabs. Deeply buried weak layers in the mid snowpack and near the ground are becoming hard to find, but may become sensitive to triggering from significant warming or with large loads such as cornice fall.
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.
Cornices
Cornice Fall is the release of an overhanging mass of snow that forms as the wind moves snow over a sharp terrain feature, such as a ridge, and deposits snow on the downwind (leeward) side. Cornices range in size from small wind drifts of soft snow to large overhangs of hard snow that are 30 feet (10 meters) or taller. They can break off the terrain suddenly and pull back onto the ridge top and catch people by surprise even on the flat ground above the slope. Even small cornices can have enough mass to be destructive and deadly. Cornice Fall can entrain loose surface snow or trigger slab avalanches.