Start on small slopes and gather information before moving into bigger terrain.
Use safe travel habits, like spacing out so only one person is in avalanche terrain at a time.
20-40 cm of recent snow fell earlier in the week with moderate to strong south and west winds, forming wind slabs. These wind slabs may still avalanche under the weight of a human, especially in steep, alpine terrain.
On Wednesday, north of Stewart, a few small (size 1) slab and dry loose avalanches were reported in the alpine, and numerous small to large (size 1-2) loose wet avalanches were reported in alpine and treeline terrain.
In the alpine, 20-40 cm of recent snow is settling over crusty surfaces across most terrain, except in high alpine north-facing areas, where dry, wintry snow can still be found. Previous moderate to strong winds (mostly from the southwest) redistributed this loose snow into deeper deposits on leeward slopes.
In most places below treeline, the upper snowpack is moist, and possibly even isothermal at low elevations.
Thursday Night
Cloudy. 1 cm of snow. 30 km/h northwest ridgetop wind, but only 15 km/h around Terrace and south. Treeline temperature -3 °C.
Friday
Cloudy. 1 to 3 cm of snow. 25 km/h west ridgetop wind, but only 10 km/h around Terrace and south. Treeline high -2 °C. Freezing level rising to 1300 m.
Saturday
Mostly cloudy. 1 to 2 mm of precipitation as snow or rain at treeline. 30 km/h south ridgetop wind. Treeline high 3 °C. Freezing level rising to 1750 m.
Sunday
Mostly cloudy, sun in afternoon. 1 to 4 mm of rain at treeline. 40 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline high 7 °C. Freezing level rising to 2200 m.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
