Glacier

It feels like Spring!

That means icy mornings followed by increasing hazard as the sun breaks down the surface crust.

A few loose wet avalanches were observed today, up to size 2.0 from steep, rocky features at treeline and above. The predominant avalanche character since Thursday has been loose wet point releases.

On Wednesday, there was a skier triggered size 1.5 slab avalanche reported in the 8812 bowl on a steep, SW-facing feature. It was suspected to have failed on the March 11th crust.

The snowpack has undergone several days of diurnal melt-freeze on solar aspects at all elevations. The 40cm of storm snow from last week has settled and is experiencing surface faceting in areas sheltered from the late March sun.

Below this is a generally strong snowpack, however the basal weakness of rounding facets/decomposing crust persists near the ground and should factor in to your terrain use decisions.

High pressure will maintain stable weather through to Wednesday.

Tonight: Clear periods. Alpine low -7°C. Light East ridgetop winds.

Monday: Mix of sun and cloud. High -3°C, freezing level (FZL) 1700m. Light E wind.

Tuesday: Mix of sun and cloud. Low -8 °C, High -3 °C. FZL 1700m. Light E wind.

Wednesday: Sunny. Low -4 °C, High -2 °C. FZL 1900m. Light W wind.

• Avoid sun exposed slopes, especially if snow surface is moist or wet.
• Use caution above cliffs and terrain traps where even small avalanches may have severe consequences.