Caution in the mountains is needed for the next while. A soft slab lays on a weak layer made of surface hoar and/or a suncrust. Buried only 40cm deep, it can easily be triggered by a human.
Weather Forecast
A gradual slumping of Arctic air will envelope the region over the next few days. Today, cloudy with sunny breaks, light ridge-top winds, and freezing levels rising to 1200m. Saturday and Sunday, it should be mainly cloudy with light ridge-top winds, alpine highs of -8*C, and no snow in the forecast.
Snowpack Summary
40cm of snow covers a surface hoar or suncrust layer at TL & sheltered ALP locations. Winds have created a soft slab on the surface hoar/suncrust, which was reactive to ski cuts. Moist, heavy snow below 1600m. October crust near ground may be poorly bonded on some high elevation north aspects.
Avalanche Summary
The natural avalanche cycle from Wednesday has died down, with no new avalanche observations yesterday. Snowpack test results from south aspects showed a 35-50cm soft slab is reactive to a human load. Surface hoar and suncrusts tend to not disappear too quickly; this slab must be given some respect in the upcoming days.
Confidence
Due to the number of field observations
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.