It will be difficult to find ways to test slopes without serious risk.
Signs of instability may not be obvious until it's too late, and choosing flat or gentle terrain is your best defense.
Three problematic persistent weak layers exist in the upper 170 cm of the snowpack. Large, destructive avalanches are possible, even on low-angle slopes. Recent snow, sun, and rising temperatures are all contributing to instability.
Recent snow and strong wind developed reactive storm and wind slabs. These slabs may still be triggered by humans, and could potentially step-down to deeper layers, even in terrain that isn't very steep.
On Saturday, numerous large to very large naturally triggered persistent slab avalanches continued to be reported.
Also, South of Highway 1, several large (up to size 2), remote human triggered avalanches were reported at treeline and below. This indicates a weak snowpack that is likely to produce surprisingly large avalanches, even in relatively mellow terrain.
Multiple climax avalanche events were reported in the neighboring region.
50 to 90 cm of recent storm snow overlies a complex snowpack.
Three persistent weak layers of concern are found in the upper 180 cm of the snowpack:
60 to 70 cm down is a layer of surface hoar in sheltered areas, or a melt-freeze crust on sun-exposed slopes from mid-February.
90 to 120 cm down is the early-February layer of surface hoar in wind-sheltered terrain and a crust on sun-exposed slopes.
110 to 140 cm down is the late-January layer of surface hoar and facets over a melt-freeze crust.
All of these persistent layers have continued to produce large avalanches.
The remainder of the snowpack below is well consolidated.
Sunday Night
Clear skies. 25-55 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -2 °C. Freezing level 1750 m.
Monday
Mostly sunny. 25-55 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -1 °C. Freezing level 1900 m.
Tuesday
Mix of sun and clouds. 3 to 10 cm of snow. 50 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -2 °C.
Wednesday
Mostly cloudy. 10 to 30 cm of snow. 40 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -2 °C.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
