Stick to conservative terrain, as riders can trigger dangerous avalanches on all aspects and elevations.
Wind has shifted directions, meaning you may find wind slabs on any aspect in wind-exposed terrain. Wind slabs could step down to buried weak layers and run surprisingly far.
40 to 60 cm of snow rests on a weak layer and numerous other weak layers may exist in the top metre of the snowpack. Humans could trigger large avalanches anywhere the overlying snow has formed a cohesive slab on these layers.
On Tuesday, multiple wind slab and persistent slab avalanches were reported, some remotely triggered.
On Monday, numerous size 1 to 2 slab avalanches released on weak layers from described in the Snowpack Summary. They ranged from 40 to 100 cm deep, occurring on all aspects and elevations, with most on northerly treeline slopes.
It remains possible for humans to trigger similar avalanches going forward. Read more about this problem here.
Around 40 to 60 cm of snow accumulated since last Friday. Recent easterly wind in the alpine and northerly wind near valley bottom redistributed most of this snow in wind-exposed terrain. The snow remains soft in wind-sheltered terrain. The snow overlies various layers that it may not bond well to, including faceted grains, surface hoar crystals in wind-sheltered openings, and a hard melt-freeze crust on sun-exposed slopes.
The middle to upper portion of the snowpack between approximately 50 and 100 cm deep is faceted with numerous other layers of surface hoar and/or crusts that formed over the month of January.
The lower snowpack is well settled and strong.
Wednesday Night
Clear skies. 10 to 20 km/h east ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -18 °C.
Thursday
Partially cloudy. 10 to 20 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -16 °C.
Friday
Partly cloudy. 10 km/h variable ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -14 °C.
Saturday
Partly cloudy. 10 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -18 °C.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
