Rugged travel conditions are the most readily found hazard.
Avalanche danger exists up high where cornices can trigger slabs in dry snow or through a thin crust.
Large, looming cornice failures are becoming less likely in cooler temperatures but these large loads are destructive and can trigger lingering wind slabs on slopes below.
Debris is still visible from large avalanches that ran during the warm wet conditions early last week.
On Thursday and Friday, a number of cornice/ice falls triggered large wind slabs, size 2 to 2.5, in extreme terrain in the high alpine.
Pinwheeling and small loose wet avalanches were observed out of steep solar aspects at alpine and treeline elevations.
A widespread melt-freeze crust extends up to at least 1600 m and as high as 2200 m. This crust may soften on steep south-facing slopes during the day. On all but southerly aspects in the high alpine, snow is dry and wind affected. Cornices loom large.
A crust/facet layer from mid-December exists in the mid snowpack. Triggering this layer is unlikely, except with large loads or in thin snowpack areas.
Saturday Night
Clear skies. 20 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -3 °C.
Sunday
Sunny. 20 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -4 °C.
Monday
Sunny. 20 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -3 °C.
Tuesday
Mostly sunny. 20 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -6 °C.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
