Avalanche Forecast

On Tuesday, local operators were able to trigger size 2 storm slab avalanches with explosives and also had a skier accidental storm slab avalanche.

Also on Tuesday, there was a size one human-triggered avalanche with involvement. More details of their well executed companion rescue can be found here on the Mountain Information Network.

In the alpine strong southerly winds will have redistributed 20 to 50 cm storm snow. These fresh wind slabs will be sitting on old wind-affected surfaces and hard crusts at higher elevations. In more sheltered areas the new snow will be more consolidated but sitting on similar surfaces. At lower elevations, recent precipitation may have fallen as rain.

A crust from mid-January can be found down 40 to 70 cm deep. A number of weak layers exist within the middle and lower snowpack, but the thick crusts sitting above them make triggering avalanches on these layers unlikely. The areas of concern in terms of triggering a deeper layer are shallow rocky areas where the snowpack varies from thick to thin.

Wednesday Night

Increasing clouds, 2 to 4 cm accumulation, wind southwest 20 km/h, treeline temperatures -8 C and cooling.

Thursday

Cloudy, up to 10 cm accumulation ending by noon, wind south 30 to 40 km/h, treeline temperatures -3 C.

Friday

Cloudy, up to 35 cm accumulation that will be starting late evening on Thursday with another pulse late in the day, winds south 40 km/h, treeline temperatures -3 to -5 C.

Saturday

Mostly cloudy, 2 to 5 cm accumulation, wind southwest 20 km/h, treeline temperatures -5 C.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

• Watch for newly formed and reactive wind slabs as you transition into wind affected terrain.
• Continue to make conservative terrain choices while the storm snow settles and stabilizes.
• Be especially cautious as you transition into wind affected terrain.