South Rockies

Start with smaller features to evaluate the bonding of the new snow before advancing or committing to larger terrain.

No new avalanches were reported at the time of publishing on Wednesday.

A few large (size 2) wind slab avalanches were triggered with explosives in the south on Monday.

A rider accidentally triggered a small wind slab avalanche below treeline near Window Mountain on Sunday. The wind slab had formed further downslope than normal.

10 to 20 cm of light, dry snow fell near the Continental Divide on Tuesday with less as you go west.

Previous moderate to strong southwest wind and current light to moderate northeast wind have developed wind slabs on all aspects and at all elevations. In sheltered spots, expect 30 to 50 cm over the thick rain crust from early February.

Below this crust, the shallow faceted snowpack is generally well consolidated. There are two crust layers, one in the midpack and another near the base of the snowpack, that have been unreactive.

Wednesday Night

Mostly cloudy, light flurries 1 to 5 cm. 15 to 20 km/h northeast ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -10 °C.

Thursday

Clear skies. 15 km/h northeast ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -15 °C.

Friday

Clear skies. 15 to 25 km/h east ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -18 °C.

Saturday

Clear skies. 20 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -12 °C.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

• Wind slabs may be poorly bonded to the underlying crust.