Human triggering of large, destructive avalanches remains possible. Use extra caution in shallow, rocky and wind-affected terrain.
Strong southerly winds have redistributed 35 - 50 cm of new snow into deep, cohesive slabs at higher elevations. Small avalanches on the surface have the potential to step down to deeper weak layers creating large avalanches.
The winter snowpack is not as deep as usual, and along with a cold and dry early winter, the lower snowpack consists of weak, unconsolidated facets and depth hoar crystals. With weak basal layers, a cautious approach to large open terrain features is required especially around rocky or thin areas.
On Wednesday, a large, size 3 avalanche was remotely triggered by skiers roughly 100 m away. The avalanche was on a northeast aspect at 2050 m. It ran on a weak layer (80 to 100 cm deep), before scrubbing down to the ground in steep terrain.
No reports of new avalanches have been made since Wednesday.
Please continue to post your observations and photos to the Mountain Information Network.
10 to 30 cm of snow since Monday now sits overtop a melt-freeze crust. The crust is thicker and more supportive at lower elevations (roughly below 2000 m). While the crust is thin and breakable higher. The mid and lower snowpack consists of various weak layers and generally unconsolidated snow.
Snowpack depths remain highly variable, roughly 50 to 200 cm at treeline.
Friday night
Cloudy with flurries, 2 to 5 cm. Light to moderate southwest winds. -5 C at treeline.
Saturday
Cloudy with flurries, 0 to 2 cm. Light southwest winds. -5 C at treeline.
Sunday
Sun and cloud, no precipitation. Light southwest winds. -5 to -10 C at treeline.
Monday
Sun and cloud, no precipitation. Light southeast winds. -5 to -10 C at treeline.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
