Human-triggered avalanches remain likely.
Decision-making can become more challenging as the signs of danger become less obvious. Manage your desires carefully.
Smaller slabs in the alpine have formed, especially near ridge top. If initiated, these may be enough to activate deeper layers. Light snow and increased winds on Friday will add to this.
A 40–90 cm slab sits atop mid-pack facets and depth hoar at the ground. Many avalanches have failed on both layers with wide propagations (persistent and deep persistent slabs). These problems will persist as they are slow to heal.
Over the past two weeks, many avalanches up to size 3.5 have occurred, including human-triggered, remote-triggered, and natural slides, mostly on persistent layers, often reaching the ground.
On March 18th, a group digging a snowpit in low-angle terrain on Observation Peak felt a whump, triggering 5-6 remote avalanches up to size 2.5.
The photos below show the Observation avalanche and a Bow Summit slide, highlighting deep slab potential below treeline.
Over the past 10 days, 40-90 cm of snow has accumulated and settled into a slab, with the deepest amounts found in the Bow Summit area and along the Wapta. This sits on a very weak, faceted mid and lower snowpack and fails easily in snowpack tests. This condition will be slow to stabilize.
Expect a surface crust on solar aspects treeline and below.
Friday - Up to 5cm of snow and mainly cloudy, 30-40kmh winds in the alpine, and highs of -4 at treeline
Saturday - Trace amounts of snow, light to moderate winds.
See below for more info
