We are expecting to see large destructive avalanches this week.
Now is a good time to stay out of the backcountry.
Two persistent weak layers are buried down ~ 130 and 170 cm. These layers are of great concern with the incoming load this week. Use caution in thin snowpack areas that are not typically skied, and limit exposure to open paths that have not recently produced large avalanches.
Heavy snowfall with warm temps and strong winds will create a widespread storm slab problem. High freezing levels and rain on snow will increase the likelihood and size of this avalanche problem.
Rain at lower elevations will destabilize the snowpack. With all that water in the upper snowpack we expect to see wet loose avalanches at treeline and below.
We expect a significant, destructive series of natural avalanche cycles this week, especially as the rain continues to soak the snowpack.
Avalanche control on Tuesday night produced avalanches up to size 3.5
Neighbouring operations are still reporting sporadic, persistent slab natural avalanche activity up to sz 3.
Information on how to deal with persistent slab problems, see the Avalanche Canada blog post.
Moderate to strong southerly winds have loaded lee features in the alpine. Heavy rain is soaking the snowpack to Treeline elevations.
In the Alpine and at Treeline, 50-100cm of storm snow has fallen since Mar 8.Below treeline, 50-70 cm of storm snow covers the Mar 8 rain crust, which is present up to 1900m
The Feb 9 and Jan 26 surface hoar (SH) layers are now buried 110-170cm deep. The Jan 26th layer is a crust with either surface hoar (up to 40mm in some places!) or facets on top of it
