Avalanche Forecast

Fair - Due to limited field observations

The weekend brings cool, dry, mainly sunny conditions as a ridge of high pressure remains over the region. Ridgetop winds from the northwest will be near 40km/h. Alpine temperatures steady at -7, with freezing levels rising to 600m then dropping back to valley bottom. On Monday we may see milder conditions, and a westerly flow ahead of the next approaching cold front.

No new avalanche activity has been reported. If you have any avalanche observations to report, please email us at: forecaster@avalanche.ca.

Sunday's big system produced but a few centimeters of snow with freezing levels rising to 1800m. A rain crust is now present below 1800m which may be a layer to watch as it get buried. The main concern in the upper part of the snowpack is wind slabs. Earlier in the week treeline and alpine winds were strong from the south-southwest. Winds have switched and are now blowing from the north-west. With Tuesday's new snow to transport, you can expect to find stiff wind slabs on many aspects, cross loading, and deeper stiffer pockets lee of terrain features. My guess is that the good riding with quality pow turns will be in sheltered locations that were unexposed to wind. Generally there is about 150-200cm in the alpine. Treeline depths are between 50 -150cms. Recent snow pack observations are indicating the late October rain crust is present in the alpine elevations and down approximately 120cm. This crust is said to be up to 5mm in thickness with predominate faceting below it. For the moment the crust seems to be bridging over the facets below, with a well settled midpack above.