Up to 30 cm of new snow forecasted by Tuesday night. It is uncertain how well the storm snow is going to bond to old surfaces.Of most concern are alpine lee slopes and steep solar terrain at tree line and below.
Previous variable winds in the alpine has sculpted much of the terrain particularly where slopes present to the wind. Investigate any large slope before committing.
There was an increase in activity of this nature on due East and West aspects as the sun made a brief appearance on Saturday. They gained enough mass by the bottom to be a concern for someone in a terrain trap. Watch for sluffs while skiing.
Saturday night will be cloudy, flurries, -8C, and light winds. Sunday will have more intense flurries, potentially 7cm of snow, -4C, 1700m freezing level, and light ridge winds. Monday will bring 10cm of snow, -7C, light gusting strong Southwest winds, and freezing level 1600m. Expect scattered flurries and 4cm of snow on Tuesday.
Sheltered areas tree line and below hold 10-20cm of soft snow over top a strong settled mid pack. Alpine snow has been sculpted by previous winds and presents as a variety of surfaces . A temperature crust down 10-30cm is decomposing and generally below 2300m on steep solar aspects. A facet and depth hoar layer is at the bottom of the snowpack.
No new avalanche activity observed on Sunday. On Saturday, one steep loose surface slide was noted in the Mt. Cromwell area at treeline on a due East aspect. It started as a point and gained enough mass by the bottom to be a size 2. Also a small wet loose slides were noted near Weeping Wall. Both likely initiated by a brief spike in solar input.
