Sheltered areas at TL and BTL giving the best options for good riding. Sun starting to penetrate the upper snowpack, watch for localized instabilities on steep solar aspects.
Weather Forecast
Continued squalls moving through the forecast area for the evening. Winds and snowfall tampering off overnight. Expecting broken sky's and cold temps for Sunday morning. Seasonal temperatures and light southerly winds over the day Sunday.
Snowpack Summary
Buried and new wind slab formed at tree-line and above on North-Easterly aspects below ridge crests and cross-loaded terrain. These slabs are loading a weak and facetted mid-pack that has a layer of concern down about 30 to 60cm at the interface between old facets and new snow. Isolated pockets of decomposing surface hoar at tree-line down 40cm.
Avalanche Summary
Some natural activity up to size 2, possibly mid storm, observed in the Alpine and TL elevations on northerly aspects.
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.
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.