Watch for windslabs in gullied terrain and along ridgelines. These may be on the surface or just buried under recent snow. Dont be pushed into bigger terrain in search of an unskied line, lots of season is left.
Wind slabs can be found in alpine areas along ridgelines and in gullied terrain. A recent avalanche involving a hiker indicates that these should be fully on your radar as you move into wind affected terrain.
Up to 10cm of snow and light winds over the past 24hrs and another 5-10cm is forecast for Wednesday. Winds are expected to be light and just touching into moderate so we should see some some moving at the ridgetops out of the NW and temperatures seasonal around the -10C mark.
A few smaller loose dry avalanches were observed over the past 24hrs mainly in the Highwood pass area. A large 2-2.5 hiker triggerred avalanche occurred in the Grizzly Col area that was 20-50cm deep, 50m wide and ran over 150m. This avalanche was a fresh windslab that failed to ground and luckily didnt injure the person involved.
Up to 10cm of upslope snow (more out east in the Highwood as opposed to Smith Dorrien) fell over the past 24hrs with generally light winds. The main concern is windslabs in the upper snow pack right now. These slabs are 20-50cm thick and can fail on ground as recently occurred in the Grizzly Col area. Feel for drummy stiff snow as you approach ridge crests. If we do get an additional 10cm, loose dry avalanches may also become of concern in or around steeper terrain.
