Fresh storm slabs will be reactive, especially in wind-affected terrain. Use extra caution around steep unsupported terrain features.
Summary
Confidence
Moderate -
Weather Forecast
SUNDAY: Gradual clearing and cooling as Arctic air pushes into the region, moderate to strong northeast wind and alpine high temperatures around -15 C.MONDAY: Sunny, moderate northeast wind, alpine high temperatures around -14 C.TUESDAY: Mostly sunny, light wind, alpine high temperatures around -12 C.
Avalanche Summary
Preliminary reports from Saturday indicate storm slabs were reactive to skier and explosive triggers, producing mostly small slabs (size 1) and one larger slab (size 2) in lee terrain.Several large cornices collapses were reported last week. One resulted in a fatal accident in the Callaghan area on Saturday. A snowmobiler was parked 7-10 m back from the edge of a corniced ridge when a large chuck broke off and took the rider down the slope.
See here for a full report. Cornices grew larger with Saturday's storm.
Snowpack Summary
25-40 cm of fresh snow sits above variable interfaces including hard wind-affected snow in exposed terrain, a hard crust below 1900 m, and a sun crust on south-facing alpine slopes. Deeper deposits of storm snow exist in lee and cross-loaded alpine terrain. The mid-January crust is now buried beneath 150-200 cm of settled snow, but a heavy trigger such as a cornice fall could potentially wake up this layer. The lower snowpack is generally strong and well-settled.
shorton,
Avalanche Canada
