Early season hazards are lurking below the fresh dusting of snow, ski defensively and cautiously once below treeline.Watch for sluff accumulation in steep terrain.
Weather Forecast
Snow amounts will tapper off today as the active low moves southward into Washington. Light flurries today with 1cm of accumulation, temps ranging from -1 to -8 and light winds from the southwest. Freezing levels up to 1400m. Small amounts of snow over the weekend (5cm) with Monday bringing the next delivering of snow (up to 30cm in the forecast).
Snowpack Summary
Up to 10cm of new snow in past 24hrs, with 25-40cm of snow overlying the Halloween crust at TreeLine. This crust sits on 50-70cm of rounds/mixed forms which cover the earlier October crusts. Snowpack is 80-110cm above 1900m. Variable windslab in the Alpine from strong northerly winds last week now covered by recent snowfall.
Avalanche Summary
Several days ago two natural wind slab avalanches were observed in the HWY corridor off Mt Macdonald on steep terrain to size 1.5. No other natural or rider triggered avalanches have been reported recently.
Confidence
Due to the number of field observations
Problems
Loose Dry
Loose Dry avalanches are the release of dry unconsolidated snow and typically occur within layers of soft snow near the surface of the snowpack. These avalanches start at a point and entrain snow as they move downhill, forming a fan-shaped avalanche. Other names for loose-dry avalanches include point-release avalanches or sluffs.