We are in for one more beautiful spring day! Conditions and hazard will vary throughout the day with aspect and elevation; warm temps and strong solar are the big factors. Be increasingly cautious as things warm up.
Weather Forecast
One more sunny day before a cold weather system. Today expect strong solar with freezing levels to 2200m, above 0 alpine temps and light winds will keep things warm. Friday expect inverted temps with wet flurries, freezing levels rising back to 2200m and gusty SW winds. Saturday expect up to 20cm, temps below freezing and gusty westerly winds.
Snowpack Summary
Melt freeze cycle below 2500m is forming a strong 20cm thick crust. In the top meter of the snowpack there are multiple crusts that are reactive to tests but would likely need a large trigger. Dry facetted snow can still be found on northerly and shaded aspects above 1900m. Isolated pockets of reactive wind-slab exist at ridge-crest.
Avalanche Summary
On Monday there was a skier triggered avalanche at the top of the Forever Young couloir. A thin windslab was triggered at the top resulting in a size 2.0 that ran 400m. Daily there continue to be a few natural solar triggered loose wet avalanches to size 2.5. Cornice failures have also been triggering slabs in isolated locations to size 2.0
Confidence
Timing, track, or intensity of incoming weather system is uncertain
Problems
Cornices
Cornice Fall is the release of an overhanging mass of snow that forms as the wind moves snow over a sharp terrain feature, such as a ridge, and deposits snow on the downwind (leeward) side. Cornices range in size from small wind drifts of soft snow to large overhangs of hard snow that are 30 feet (10 meters) or taller. They can break off the terrain suddenly and pull back onto the ridge top and catch people by surprise even on the flat ground above the slope. Even small cornices can have enough mass to be destructive and deadly. Cornice Fall can entrain loose surface snow or trigger slab avalanches.
Loose Wet
Loose Wet avalanches are the release of wet unconsolidated snow or slush. These avalanches typically occur within layers of wet snow near the surface of the snowpack, but they may quickly gouge into lower snowpack layers. Like Loose Dry Avalanches, they start at a point and entrain snow as they move downhill, forming a fan-shaped avalanche. Other names for loose-wet avalanches include point-release avalanches or sluffs. Loose Wet avalanches can trigger slab avalanches that break into deeper snow layers.
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.