Human-triggered avalanches are likely.
Choose conservative terrain and regroup in safe spots.
New snow and wind have formed reactive new slabs. Expect wind slabs to be present on north through east aspects near or just below ridge crests.
Buried weak layers from early March, mid February, and late January can still be triggered, particularly at upper treeline and alpine elevations. Wind slab avalanches could step down to these layers, forming very large avalanches.
On Tuesday five very large (size 3) natural avalanches were reported, two were triggered by cornice failures. Numerous large (size 2) natural and human-triggered avalanches were also reported. On Monday, several size 2 and one size 3 natural avalanches were reported. There were also four size 2 remotely-triggered avalanches, two by riders and two by a snowcat.
Large human-triggered avalanches continue to remain likely.
Up to 25 cm of new snow has fallen since Monday. A sun crust and/or moist snow can be found on slopes exposed to the sun.
Three persistent weak layers consisting of surface hoar and/or facets are found in the middle of the snowpack. The early March layer is between 60 and 120 cm down. The mid-February layer is between 70 and 150 cm deep and a layer from late January is down 150 cm. In lower elevations, these layers sit over a crust.
Below this, the snowpack is well settled.
Wednesday night
Cloudy with 0 to 5 cm of snow. 30 to 50 km/h south ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -6 °C.
Thursday
Cloudy with 5 to 10 cm of snow. 20 to 30 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -5 °C.
Friday
Cloudy with 5 to 15 cm of snow. 30 to 50 km/h southwest ridgetop winds. Treeline temperature -5 °C.
Saturday
Moslty cloudy with 0 to 5 cm of snow. 20 to 30 km/h west ridgetop winds. Treeline temperature -5 °C.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
