Avalanche Forecast

On Thursday, Sunshine Village reported numerous small size 1 windslab avalanches with explosive control. Otherwise, no new avalanches were reported.

On Tuesday we investigated the Quartz skier accidental avalanche, where the start zone was 48° and the failure plane was an old layer of weak facets down 50 cm. The avalanche was triggered from a very shallow, faceted location and the crack propagated into the thicker snowpack nearby and released the avalanche.

Last weeks storm snow has been redistributed into now aging wind slabs, which sit on top of the Jan 30 interface. Specific areas exposed to the wind may also have strastrugi. The mid-pack is generally weak with facets, while depth hoar over a crust forms on an even weaker base. The snowpack is the weakest in eastern areas where snow depths are low. In these areas, the basal weaknesses should be carefully considered. Here is a representative snow profile taken on Wednesday

Thursday night: Cloudy with clear periods. Alpine temperature: Low -15 °C. Ridge wind east: 10 km/h. Alpine temperature inversion.

Friday Mainly cloudy. Alpine temperature: High -15 °C. Ridge wind east: 10 km/h.

Saturday Cloudy with sunny periods and isolated flurries. Alpine temperature: Low -17 °C, High -15 °C. Ridge wind west: 10 km/h.

• Be careful as you transition into wind-affected terrain.
• Be mindful that deep instabilities are still present in the snowpack.
• Closely monitor how the new snow is bonding to the old surface.