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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Feb 11th, 2022–Feb 12th, 2022

Alpine
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Alpine
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Alpine
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.

Regions

Glacier.

Widespread wind effect in the alpine is making for fast travel, but challenging skiing in places.

Exercise caution as you transition through treeline, especially pushing into terrain that's off the beaten path, where the surface hoar may be preserved.

Weather Forecast

A ridge of high pressure for the weekend gives mostly sunny skies and warm daytime temps.

Tonight: Clear periods. Alpine Low -6*C. Ridgetop winds light West.

Saturday: Mainly sunny. High -1*C. Freezing level (Fzl) 1700 m. Light W wind.

Sun: Mainly sunny. Low -3*C, High -1*C. Alpine temp inversion.

Mon: Flurries (5cm). Low -8*C, High -4*C. Fzl 1300m.

Snowpack Summary

Extreme South winds have created widespread wind effect, and scoured exposed slopes back to previous firm surfaces.

Warm temps/rain has created a crust into the alpine on solar aspects, and on all aspects below 1650m.

The Jan 29th SH layer is buried ~50-80cm, is 5-15mm in size depending aspect and elevation, and remains reactive in isolated areas.

Avalanche Summary

There were a few size 2-2.5 avalanches triggered by warming in the highway corridor and in the backcountry on Thursday.

There were near daily reports of skier triggered avalanches this week, several confirmed to have failed on the Jan 29 Surface Hoar...

The Hourglass

Bonney Moraines - MIN, MIN, MCR, and an additional Sz 1.5 with a partial burial

Confidence

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.

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.

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.