Consistent weather is slowly improving our snowpack, but big terrain and paths that haven't avalanched are still worth some thought before jumping in.
When aren't windslabs a problem? Never. We have 'em in spades, yet in the last few days we haven't seen much activity among them. Watch roll overs at treeline & alpine as the slabs will be thicker there and under tension.
These are still on the radar. It's worth digging or probing to inspect it. Large triggers are also worth considering, if the bottom layer is disturbed it will be a very big avalanche.
Flurries throughout the weekend with a slightly stronger pulse on Sunday. Tomorrow's high will be -3. 20-30km/hr winds with gusts up to 50 at treeline.
Nothing new today.
Yesterday saw another 10cm of snow on the Spray Road. Today, winds at all elevations blew this snow around to form drifts and windslabs. Ski tests didn't show an obvious weak bond, but in steep areas that would have stiffer slabs underneath, the bond could be poor. The Dec 11th layer is down 50cm, and so far unreactive. Having said that, surface hoar is notorious for "waking up" and becoming a problem. The deep layers are still there. The alpine, thin snowpack areas are the probable places to have it become a problem.
