Low elevation trees are your best chance at avoiding windslabs and finding soft snow that hasn't been hammered by outflows. The short trip from the car is an added bonus on a chilly day.
Strong outflow winds have blown snow into wind slabs extensively in the alpine and in open areas at treeline and below. While reactivity may be diminishing in the cold temperatures, in places where windslabs sit on surface hoar the problem will likely remain well preserved.
A deep crust from mid November lurks at the base of the snowpack and appears to be waking up. Reports of avalanches on this layer have been mostly naturals in alpine lee or cross loaded slopes. Human or even vehicle triggering at this depth is difficult, but can occur from shallow, rocky areas and propagate out to where the snow is deeper. If triggered these are very large, high consequence avalanches.
Thursday night: Mostly cloudy with clear periods. Isolated flurries bringing a trace of new snow. Moderate wind from the south. Alpine temperatures around -21 C.
Friday: Mix of sun and cloud. Light south to southwest winds. Alpine temperatures around -18 C.
Saturday: Mostly cloudy with scattered flurries bringing 5-10 cm of new snow to most areas. Strong south to southeast winds, approaching extreme at ridgetop. Alpine high around -16 C.
Sunday: Mostly cloudy with scattered flurries bringing 10-15 cm of new snow to most areas. Moderate to strong south to southwest winds. Alpine high around -11 C.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, avalanche activity was limited to size 1-1.5 windslabs, both natural and explosive triggered. A widespread natural windslab cycle around size 2 -3 was observed Sunday through Monday morning amid reverse loading by the onset of strong outflow winds. Cornice and serac failures have also observed recently, as they typically become brittle in the cold.
Reports of deep persistent slab avalanches have been trickling in over the past week. They are associated with a November crust layer near the base of the snowpack, producing very large avalanches with crown depths of around 2 m. Observations are typically in alpine terrain, on lee or cross-loaded slopes. In one case, the slab was triggered remotely by a vehicle from shallow, rocky terrain, propagating to deeper areas. Among the earliest reports was this MIN from the storm last week.
Extensive wind effect observed at all elevations. North to east aspects in the alpine have been wind scoured, with isolated hard windslab in lees, and notable cornice growth. This wind affected surface snow may overly a layer of surface hoar in many areas, particularly at treeline. In sheltered areas, unconsolidated snow may be found well preserved by the cold temperatures.
A deep crust from mid November lurks at the base of the snowpack. A couple of recent large avalanches have run on this layer high in the alpine.
