Seek out areas with soft powder snow on the surface.
Recent snow will be more likely to avalanche in terrain that has been affected by wind.
Continued snowfall and moderate winds mean that wind slab avalanches are still possible. Alpine-like features at treeline that are cross-loaded will be a concern.
On Thursday and Friday, the recent snow resulted in several small explosive and rider triggered avalanches in the alpine and at treeline.
Alpine terrain is heavily wind-affected, while sheltered areas have settling snow from recent storms.
A layer of facets, surface hoar, and/or crusts buried in early December is 50-70 cm deep. No avalanches have been reported on this layer so far. It's possible that the recent mild temperatures helped it bond to the rest of the snowpack.
Treeline snow depths vary from 50-140 cm.
Friday Night
Cloudy with 3 to 10 cm of snow. 20 km/h south ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -5 °C.
Saturday
Cloudy with 5 cm of snow. 25 to 40 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -5 °C.
Sunday
Partly cloudy with up to 3 cm of snow. 10 km/h east ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -4 °C.
Monday
Partly cloudy with 1 cm of snow. 15 to 25 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -6 °C.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
