Seeking high, north-facing dry snow will put you in the same terrain as wind slabs that form Friday night. Gather good information about wind loading and reactivity of new snow before committing to your line. Steep slopes that catch sun will likely shed loose snow naturally.
Fresh wind slabs will be forming in lee terrain features over Friday night. Due to previous northerly winds, buried wind slabs may exist on many aspects.
Friday night: Cloudy with flurries bringing about 5 cm of new snow. Strong southwest winds.
Saturday: Mainly cloudy with easing flurries and another 3-5 cm of new snow. Moderate northwest winds easing over the day. Alpine high temperatures around -9 with freezing levels to 1000 metres.
Sunday: Sunny. Light southwest winds. Alpine high temperatures around -3 with freezing levels to 1700 metres.
Monday: A mix of sun and cloud. Moderate northeast winds. Alpine high temperatures around -4 with freezing levels to 1700 metres.
Reports from the Kootenay Pass area on Thursday describe periods of intense solar warming triggering several natural point releases entraining our recent storm snow up to size 1.5.
A similar pattern is likely to occur through the weekend as fresh accumulations are once again triggered by their first exposure to solar input. New and recent wind slabs may also be reactive to triggers in leeward terrain features, especially in areas with greater recent snowfall amounts, such as Kootenay Pass.
Light new snow amounts over Friday night will accumulate over a new melt-freeze crust on solar aspects and otherwise add to a rapidly settling 5-20 cm of snow from Wednesday's storm. This previous storm snow formed wind slabs on north through east aspects, overlying yet another crust on all aspects below 2000 metres. Wind affected new and recent accumulations may add to settled dry snow in limited terrain above this elevation.
