Travellers should watch for windslabs as they reach treeline and become selective with the terrain they consider. Ice climbers and skiers alike should be wary of loose snow sluffs in steep terrain at all elevations.
Weather Forecast
Arctic air is taking over yet again. Alpine winds will be from the N and diminishing from moderate Saturday to light Sunday and almost calm Monday before picking back up again through the day. While skies will trend towards clear on Monday Tuesday , temperatures will creep a few degrees colder reaching -25C in the alpine.
Snowpack Summary
20 to 40 cm has accumulated since Feb 1 along with isolated crusts on steep solar slopes and wind effect treeline and above. In isolated areas at treeline and below the Jan 17 surface hoar can be found down 30-75 cm, and is producing hard but sudden test results. Weak basal facets can be found in thinner snow pack areas.
Avalanche Summary
Small thin natural wind slabs and loose dry avalanches up to size 2 have been observed out of very steep alpine terrain over the past couple days with loose dry avalanches running down into treeline. Skier triggered loose dry sluffing of the surface facets has also been observed in steep terrain at all elevations up to size 1.
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.
Loose Dry
Loose Dry avalanches are the release of dry unconsolidated snow and typically occur within layers of soft snow near the surface of the snowpack. These avalanches start at a point and entrain snow as they move downhill, forming a fan-shaped avalanche. Other names for loose-dry avalanches include point-release avalanches or sluffs.