Good skiing abounds. Exercise extra caution in wind affected terrain.
Up to 70cm of recent snow and strong wind gusts has formed a surface slab. Carefully evaluate slab properties as you travel. Wind slabs will be most reactive in areas where a crust is present to act as a bed surface.
Two persistent weak layers are buried down ~ 130 and 170 cm. Last weekends storm triggered these layers causing large, destructive avalanches. Use caution in thin snowpack areas that are not typically skied, and limit exposure to open paths that have not recently produced large avalanches.
Size 1.5 skier triggered wind slab was reported on MacDonald West shoulder Friday.
Neighbouring operations are still reporting sporadic, persistant slab natural avalanche activity up to sz 3.
Information on how to deal with persistent slab problems, see the Avalanche Canada blog post. Avalanches are happening less often, but when they do occur, the consequences are very serious.
In the Alpine and at Treeline, 30-70cm of storm snow has fallen since Mar 8. Moderate to strong southerly winds have loaded lee features in exposed terrain.
Below treeline, 20-30 cm of storm snow covers the Mar 8 rain crust, which is present up to ~1850m.
The Feb 9 and Jan 26 surface hoar (SH) layers are now buried 110-170cm deep. The Jan 26th layer is a crust with either surface hoar (up to 40mm in some places!) or facets on top of it.
Stable weather persists through Sunday. Early next week, a warm, wet airmass moves in.
Tonight Clear periods. Alpine low -15°C. Wind W-25km/h. Freezing level (FZL) at valley bottom.
Sun Cloud/Sun/Flurries, Trace snow. Alpine High -11°C. Wind: SW 30km/h. FZL valley bottom.
Mon Snow, 25-35cm. High -2°C, FZL 1500m. Wind SW-30 km/h
Tues Snow, 20-30cm. High -1°C. Wind SW 30 gusting to 65km/h. FZL 1900m.
