Several reports of skier triggered avalanches in the alpine on wind loaded features. Be cautious of recently opened areas of the park that have not seen skier traffic.
Weather Forecast
Tuesday night may bring 5-10cm of new snow and light South winds. Wednesday-Thursday will be -2 to -10, light flurries, and 1400-1700m freezing level. Thursday-Friday will warm up with increasingly strong Westerly winds.
Snowpack Summary
Weak crust on S through W aspects. Dry, facetted and generally unsupportive facets below this crust. Wind slab on lee aspects from previous SW winds and persistent slab in open areas at tree line. Poor travel conditions below tree line due to weak facetted snowpack. The Jan 28 SH/FC layer down 80cm remains a concern but is sporadically distributed.
Avalanche Summary
Loose dry sluffing from all aspects in the ALP out of steep rocky terrain up to sz 1. Several reports of remotely triggered slab avalanches in the alpine in wind loaded areas up to size 2. These slides went on old snow and are especially prevalent in areas that have not seen skier traffic this winter.
Problems
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.
Wind Slabs
Wind Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer of snow (a slab) formed by the wind. Wind typically transports snow from the upwind sides of terrain features and deposits snow on the downwind side. Wind slabs are often smooth and rounded and sometimes sound hollow, and can range from soft to hard. Wind slabs that form over a persistent weak layer (surface hoar, depth hoar, or near-surface facets) may be termed Persistent Slabs or may develop into Persistent Slabs.