Assess the bond between wind slabs and the underlying crust before committing to steep terrain.
Strong sun could increase the likelihood of both natural and human-triggered avalanches.
Reactive wind slabs persist at higher elevations. Avalanches have the potential to run surprisingly far due to the underlying crust.
In the past few days, several wind slab avalanches up to size 2.5 have been triggered by skiers. Avalanches were predominantly triggered on north and east aspects at treeline and above. The atmospheric river crust has been the failure plane for almost all of them.
Wind slab reactivity has persisted longer than usual due to poor bond to the crust below.
Up to 15 cm of recent snowfall overlies wind-affected surfaces and wind slabs, found primarily on north through to east aspects.
The thick crust that formed as a result of the recent atmospheric river event is found down 40 to 80 cm. This crust extends up to at least 2300 m.
Weak layers from February can be found down 150 cm and deeper and have shown no recent reactivity.
Sunday Night
Partly cloudy. 2 to 3 cm of snow. 30 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -10 °C.
Monday
Mostly sunny. 20 km/h northwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -11 °C.
Tuesday
Mostly sunny. 20 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -9 °C.
Wednesday
Mix of sun and clouds. 1 cm of snow. 20 km/h south ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -5 °C.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
