Low visibility and a thin, early-season snowpack are the main hazards. Keep the chaos low- slide slow!
Isolated pockets of wind slab may exist in wind-loaded areas such as cross-loaded slopes, areas of drifted snow behind ribs, gullies, and other terrain breaks.
Skiers triggered a few small (size 1) wind slabs at treeline near Revelstoke on Saturday.
Looking forward to Monday, the potential for isolated pockets of wind slab remains, but the biggest hazard is a shallow, early-season snowpack in combination with flat light or low visibility.
Please consider posting a MIN if you are heading out in the backcountry!
Up to 10 cm of recent snowfall covers faceted snow or surface hoar in sheltered areas, firm wind-affected snow in open areas, and a thin sun crust on steep solar aspects. A supportive melt-freeze crust from mid-November is buried 40–60 cm down and is present up to about 2200 m.
The average snow depths at treeline elevation are anywhere from 70 to 100 cm.
Below treeline, the snowpack tapers significantly. Watch out for variable snow conditions and quality—early-season hazards such as open creeks, rocks, and stumps are abundant.
Increasing cloud cover. 20 km/h northwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -8 °C.
Mostly cloudy. Trace to 4 cm of snow at treeline. 20 km/h northwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -8 °C.
Mostly cloudy. Trace to 3 cm of snow at treeline. 20 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -7 °C.
Mostly cloudy. Trace to 3 cm of snow at treeline. 20 km/h northwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -9 °C.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
