Excellent dry snow can still be found on North to Northeast aspects. The ski quality is great on specific features. Don't let your guard down and jump in to large terrain. The persistent weak layers are very much still there and discipline is required. The sun is really getting strong, plan your routes wisely and observe the changing snowpack as the day heats up.
With up to 65cm of recent snow in alpine areas and recent increase in wind values, there is a lot of snow to move around and build new windslabs. Keep an eye out for drum like and cakey feeling snow when transitioning into wind affected terrain
The Feb crust has been the main bed surface for many avalanches this winter. Slopes and features that have not slid should be treated cautiously or just avoided. Dig and look.
Facets near the base of the snowpack may be triggered from thin areas. Low probability, high consequence avalanches should be in your mind.
Small loose dry avalanche continue in the steep alpine. Otherwise no reports of new slab avalanches.
An additional 5cm of new snow in the past 24 hours, brings the recent HST totals up to 65cm. This new snow is overlying a variety of surfaces from temperature crusts on solar aspects to dry snow on polar aspects. Isolated wind slabs are found in the Alpine, especially in lee and cross-loaded features. Moist snow was found on solar aspects by late morning, which will form a new thin surface crust overnight. While we have seen the February crust become less reactive, it's still a concern and worth a dig to see what it's doing. Thin weak areas have also been the cause of at least one recent size 3.0 skier accidental avalanche that triggered the deep persistent slab layers near ground. Forecasters have low confidence in any features that have not slid yet this season. Moderate danger means Human triggered avalanches are possible.
When the sun comes out and temperatures warm up, expect avalanche danger to increase, especially on solar aspects in thin steep rocky terrain. Start early and be done early before the heat arrives. Plan your tour to avoid solar aspects later in the day and think about slopes in the sun first thing in the morning when you are in the cool valley floor.
Mostly sunny!
Freezing levels will rise to 2300m (the highest it has been in weeks) and the winds are increasing to 30km/h out of the West. day time high of -1 but in the sun it will feel much warmer.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
