Still good skiing on at higher elevations on the northern aspects. The crusts and cool temperatures are making for fast travel! Be cautious of windslabs along ridgelines and at the entrances to runs.
Isolated wind slabs are possible on all aspects due to recently variable winds. Check the new snow bond with the underlying crust. These slabs are more likely at Ridgecrest's but do not extend far downslope.
The February crust is still a concern in high north alpine areas. low probability high consequence avalanches are possible.
A few loose dry avalanches up to sz 1.
Recent storm snow totals are highly variable depending on drainage and elevation. The farther east you are, the more snow there is! While Burstall Pass area saw 10-13cm, on the eastern side there was closer to 20cm. This recent snow overlies a strong crust and is bonding well except at higher elevations where it is sluffing easily. Wind slabs are evident at 2400m and above, and could be sensitive to human triggering in specific locations such as along ridgelines. The deeper persistent weak layers are still a concern where the snowpack is thin or when the crusts break down with direct solar radiation and/or daytime heating. Moist snow was observed by 1300m at 2200m on Thursday on solar aspects.
Friday will start off rather chilly with temps around -14C. Throughout the day there will be a warm up to around -4C but it will feel much warmer than that with the mix of sun and cloud forecast. Winds will continue out of the east and there may be a few cm of snow that falls overnight on Thursday. The sun has lots of intensity at this time of year so pay attention to aspect and whats overhead as you travel. Stability will decrease throughout the day as temperatures warm up.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
