Find the best riding in areas sheltered from the wind. Watch for fresh snow and wind building slabs at upper elevations.
Increasing winds will impact loose snow and flurries. Small, reactive wind slabs may lurk around ridgelines and in immediate lee features at upper elevations.
Wednesday night: Increasing clouds and isolated flurries, trace to 5 cm accumulation. Southwest winds 20-40 km/hr. Alpine temperature low -5C. Freezing level valley bottom.
Thursday: Flurries, up to 15 cm accumulating by the end of the day. Southwest winds, 35-45 km/hr. Alpine temperature high -4C. Freezing level rising to 1200 m.
Friday: Overnight flurries and snow, 5-20 cm by Friday morning. Southwest winds, 30-50 km/hr. Alpine temperature high -3C. Freezing level 1400 m.
Saturday: Mostly cloudy with flurries starting during the day. Southwest winds 10-20 km/hr. Alpine temperature high -2C. Freezing level 1400 m and rising.
No recent avalanche observations. Note we have very few field observations this early in the season.
Up to 20 cm of loose snow has been impacted by wind and redistributed around ridges and lee features. In areas that had a sunny Monday (Nov 22), a thin sun crust formed on solar-facing slopes up to 2000 m.
The mid-November crust is down 10-30 cm and up to 10 cm thick. At the bottom of the snowpack, up to 20 cm of facetted snow may be found.
Snowpack depths at treeline range from 40-100 cm, with alpine depths exceeding 150 cm in areas. Below 1700 m, snowpack depths decrease rapidly.
Early season hazards are very real right now at all elevations, be wary of thin/shallow snowpacks, rocks, stumps, creeks, and other sharks hidden under a dusting of fresh snow.
