Lots of variability in wind direction during and since our last snowfall, so keep an eye out for wind loaded areas on all aspects. Aim for sheltered areas holding low density snow for the safest, best quality skiing and riding.
A shift to northwest winds and an ample supply of loose surface snow is likely to expand distribution of new wind slabs across all aspects in exposed terrain. Keep your guard up in steeper sheltered areas where a stubborn storm slab may still react to a human trigger.
Thursday night: Cloudy with easing flurries bringing up to 10 cm of new snow. overnight. Light to moderate northwest winds.
Friday: Cloudy with isolated flurries bringing up to 5 cm of new snow, increasing overnight. Light to moderate southwest winds, increasing overnight. Alpine temperatures around -7.
Saturday: Mainly cloudy with easing flurries and about 5 cm of new snow, adding up to 15-20 cm with overnight accumulations. Moderate southwest winds, easing over the day. Alpine high temperatures around -7.
Sunday: Mainly cloudy with scattered flurries and up to 5 cm of new snow. Light variable winds. Alpine high temperatures around -8.
Reports from Tuesday and Wednesday included a few observations of small (size 1) new wind slabs reacting to skier traffic as well as failing naturally on steeper north aspects. On Tuesday many loose wet avalanches up to size 2 (large) were observed running naturally on steep, sun-exposed slopes.
Over the weekend wind slabs were widespread to size 2 (large) with an average depth of 30 cm.
Natural cornice failures have featured regularly in reports from the last week, with some cornices failing to produce avalanches when they impact slopes below, and others producing small wind slabs.
It's also worth noting that glide slabs continue to release sporadically at lower elevations. A new size 2 glide slab was observed on Wednesday and a size 2.5 natural glide slab avalanche was reported near the Basalt Creek Rest Area east of Prince Rupert on February 7th. It's always a good idea to avoid slopes with glide cracks.
20-30 cm of new snow accumulated in the region over Wednesday night and Thursday. The new snow mainly buried widespread wind-affected surfaces and recent wind slabs in exposed areas but also sun crust noted in advance of the storm on some sun-exposed slopes at lower elevations.
The new snow adds to 15 to 20 cm of snow from Monday night, which overlies an aspect and elevation-dependant mix of melt-freeze crust (lower elevations), sun crust (sun-exposed slopes), faceted snow and/or surface hoar (shaded aspects).
A thin layer of facets that formed during the January cold snap is now about 100-150 cm below the surface while an early season crust lingers at the base of the snowpack. These layers produced a few large natural avalanches in early February but have more recently been nonreactive.
