Don't let the perfect weather lure you into inappropriate terrain. Large features should be avoided as the Feb 10th layer still needs time to heal. Conservative route selection is key to managing the current avalanche problems.
Weather Forecast
Clear skies will continue into Wednesday and most of Thursday. Winds will be light and temperatures will be much more reasonable until a return to frigid conditions on Friday. Light precipitation is also expected Friday.
Avalanche Summary
Very isolated loose dry in steep Alpine terrain up to size 1.0 were observed today. One naturally triggered size 2.0 slab was observed on a North aspect at 2500m. Today's snow study flight across the region revealed further evidence of a previous widespread natural cycle up to size 2.5 in Alpine and Treeline terrain. In some cases recent avalanche activity occurred on re-loaded bed surfaces from the cycle in January.
Snowpack Summary
Surface faceting. Variable wind effect Alpine. Between 40 and 70cm overlies the Feb 10th layer, and this interface is still producing moderate shears in compression tests. Along the continental divide the midpack remains supportive, but areas further east are much weaker. The basal facets and depth hoar are well pronounced, but are currently dormant with respect to avalanche activity and stability tests.
Problems
Persistent Slabs
Persistent Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer of snow (a slab) in the middle to upper snowpack, when the bond to an underlying persistent weak layer breaks. Persistent layers include: surface hoar, depth hoar, near-surface facets, or faceted snow. Persistent weak layers can continue to produce avalanches for days, weeks or even months, making them especially dangerous and tricky. As additional snow and wind events build a thicker slab on top of the persistent weak layer, this avalanche problem may develop into a Deep Persistent Slab.
Loose Wet
Loose Wet avalanches are the release of wet unconsolidated snow or slush. These avalanches typically occur within layers of wet snow near the surface of the snowpack, but they may quickly gouge into lower snowpack layers. Like Loose Dry Avalanches, they start at a point and entrain snow as they move downhill, forming a fan-shaped avalanche. Other names for loose-wet avalanches include point-release avalanches or sluffs. Loose Wet avalanches can trigger slab avalanches that break into deeper snow layers.