Coquihalla

Assess for wind slabs in steep terrain.

A few small (size 1) wet loose avalanches were observed out of steep and rocky terrain on Wednesday. Riders also triggered some small (size 1) wind slabs on Tuesday.

Looking forward, new wind slabs could be triggered by riders in lee terrain features from Thursday night's storm. Use plenty of caution along alpine ridges, where cornices may be large.

Around 10 cm of snow is forecast for Thursday night with southwest wind, which may form new wind slabs in lee terrain features. The snow will accumulate over a melt-freeze crust on sun-exposed slopes or 5 to 10 cm of dry snow that overlies a thick and hard crust on shaded aspects.

The remainder of the snowpack is strong with varying hard snow layers and bonded melt-freeze crusts. Cornices are large along many alpine ridges.

Thursday Night

Cloudy with snowfall, accumulation 10 to 15 cm, 20 to 40 km/h southwest wind, treeline temperature -5 °C, freezing level 1000 m.

Friday

Cloudy with snowfall, accumulation 2 to 5 cm, 20 km/h southwest wind, treeline temperature -4 °C, freezing level 1300 m.

Cloudy with trace rain or snow, 30 to 40 km/h southwest wind, treeline temperature -1 °C, freezing level rising to 1900 m.

Cloudy with rain or snow, accumulation 5 to 10 cm, 30 to 40 km/h southwest wind, treeline temperature -2 °C, freezing level 2000 m dropping to 1500 m.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

• Carefully evaluate steep lines for wind slabs.
• Use ridges or ribs to avoid areas of wind loaded snow.
• Pay attention to cornices and give them a wide berth when traveling on or below ridges.