Wind slabs may be present on all alpine and treeline aspects thanks to variable winds.
Cold temperatures and shorter days should play a role in your trip planning.
Wind slabs could be found in all exposed terrain at upper elevations. These wind slabs could be more sensitive to rider triggering where they overlie facets, a crust or surface hoar.
New wind slabs have been reported to be reactive to ski cuts.
Last week there was activity on buried weak layers produced several, up to size 2, avalanches in neighbouring forecast regions. This should be considered to also be in our region even though it has been quiet here for some time.
If you are heading into the backcountry please consider filling out a Mountain Information Network report.
Fresh wind slabs have formed in the alpine and treeline by recent snow and variable winds. In sheltered areas, up to 25 cm of low-density surface snow may be found. Both sit on a wide variety of surfaces. On solar aspects, they are likely to overlay a sun crust and on northerly aspects, they overlay a layer of facets. In sheltered areas around treeline, surface hoar can also be found below our top layer
A weak layer consisting of facets and a crust formed in November is now buried around 50 cm deep. This layer has produced large avalanches in the past week and continues to show reactivity in snowpack tests in the neighboring forecast region.
In general, the snowpack is quite faceted with average snowpack depths of around 100 cm at treeline.
Monday Night
A mix of cloudy and clear, trace accumulation, 10 to 13 km/h north wind, -27 C at 1500 m.
Tuesday
Mostly cloudy, up to 5 cm accumulation, 10 to 20 km/h northwest winds, -26 C at 1500 m..
Wednesday
Mostly sunny, trace accumulation, 25 km/h northeast wind, temperature -30 C at 1500 m.
Thursday
Sunny, no accumulation, 15 km/h northeast winds, -27 C at 1500 m.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
