Storm snow and wind have built fresh slabs at higher elevations. Use caution in wind-affected terrain where deeper deposits exist and human-triggered avalanches are possible.
Evaluate wind-affected areas carefully, variable winds have created soft slabs in exposed terrain at higher elevations. The deepest deposits are found in north and east facing terrain.
+20 cm of recent snow will take time to bond to the crust it rest on. Investigate the bond between theses surfaces and watch for signs of instability such as cracking and recent avalanches as you move through the terrain.
On Tuesday, a skier remote size 2.5 wind slab avalanche was reported near Blue River. This avalanche occurred on an east aspect in the alpine and was triggered from 10 m away.
Several, size 2, natural avalanches were observed in steep terrain primarily on northerly aspects above 2000 m. Explosives control in the region produced storm slab results up to size 2.5.
10 to 40 cm of settling storm snow covers the surface at higher elevations. Previous variable winds have redistributed new snow into lees in exposed alpine features. The new snow sits above a crust in most areas. The exception is on high northerly aspects above 2200 m where it overlies dry snow.100 to 50 cm down is a layer of weak faceted grains above a crust, formed in early February. This layer has generally been gaining strength, however it is still occasionally producing large avalanches at upper elevations where supportive crusts have not formed above it.
Below 1400 m surfaces are moist and the snowpack is rapidly disappearing.
Wednesday Night
Partly cloudy. Ridgetop wind southwest 10 to 20 km/h. Treeline temperature +1 °C. Freezing level 1800 m.
Thursday
Cloudy with 2 to 8 cm of snow at upper elevations. Ridgetop wind south 15 to 30 km/h. Treeline temperature 0 °C. Freezing level 1700 m.
Friday
A mix of sun and cloud with 0 to 3 cm of snow at upper elevations. Ridgetop wind southwest 10 to 15 km/h. Treeline temperature +3 °C. Freezing level 2200 m.
Saturday
A mix of sun and cloud. Ridgetop wind northwest 10 to 25 km/h. Treeline temperature +5 °C. Freezing level 2400 m.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
