Pockets of weak, faceted snow linger along Alpine ridge-crests this year. Adjust your expectations, sharpen your route-finding skills, and lower your risk tolerance to avoid a ride in a slide.
Below Tree-line, travel remains difficult with rocks, stumps, and icy pee-covered trails.
Recent snow accompanied by moderate winds formed soft wind slabs on leeward and cross loaded features in the alpine. Where this wind slab sits on a crust, it may be particularly reactive and has the potential to run far.
Up to 20cm of unconsolidated fluff is perched atop a crust on solar aspects and surface hoar on NW through E aspects. It will be reactive to human-triggering, especially on the crust, and could gather significant mass.
Loose, dry sluffing to sz 1 was observed off Mts Tupper and Macdonald (steep Alpine terrain) today, especially when the sun poked out and heated up the slopes.
Isolated slab avalanches (Avalanche Mtn last week, Sapphire Col on Saturday) continue to surprise folks from shallow snowpack areas in the Alpine. Thin snowpack areas, which in normal years have over 3m of snow by now, need to be treated with more caution this year.
10-15cm of loose, dry snow covers surface hoar on protected lee aspects and, on steep S-facing slopes, a breakable surface crust.
Below 2500m on all aspects is the robust and supportive Feb 3rd crust with 20-40cm of recent low density snow over it.
Below Tree-line expect firm crusts, widespread frozen avalanche debris, and shallow snowpack hazards.
Warm temperatures have rounded and strengthened the mid and lower snowpack.
The Arctic Ridge pushes into the region this week, dropping temps and clearing the skies.
Tonight: Cloud with flurries, trace amounts, Alp low -11°C, light W winds, freezing level (FZL) valley bottom.
Tues: Mix of sun & cloud, Alp high -12°C, light to moderate N winds, FZL 600m.
Wed: Sunny, Alp high -13°C, light E winds, FZL valley bottom.
Thurs: Sunny, Alp high -9°C, light E winds, FZL valley bottom.
