Some small pockets of wind slab may continue to be reactive to the additional load of a skier/rider. Low danger does not mean no danger.
Weather Forecast
Mostly cloudy overnight with a chance of flurries, light southwest winds and freezing at valley bottoms. Friday: Overcast with light winds and a couple of cm of new snow, and alpine temperatures -10. Saturday: Mix of sun and cloud with moderate westerly winds and warm air (possibly above freezing) moving into the alpine in the afternoon. Sunday: Mostly sunny with strong westerly winds and a pocket of warm air (possibly above freezing) in the alpine.
Avalanche Summary
No new avalanches reported. On Tuesday, one skier accidentally triggered size 1.0 was reported from south of Fernie that was on a northeast aspect around 1900 metres, the release was 20 cm deep. One natural cornice fall size 2.0 released on a northeast aspect at 2100 metres on Monday.
Snowpack Summary
A dusting of light snow covers settled storm snow from last week. Last week's storm delivered 20-40 cm of heavy snow with freezing levels up to 1600 m. Crusts can be found near the surface on solar aspects at high elevations and on all aspects below 1600 m. The lower snowpack appears to be well settled. There have been isolated reports of surface hoar layers that formed in early January that may still exist about 40 cm deep in sheltered areas. In the First Peak area on Wednesday, the height of snow was 140 cm at an elevation of 1950 metres. The top 50 cm of the snowpack was pencil resistance hard above a softer layer of December facets, and the November crust in this location was 15 cm thick and breaking down into weak facetted crystals.
Problems
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.