Staying safe involves selecting sheltered terrain away from wind-affected snow. As a bonus, this is also where the best riding will be found.
Strong southwesterly winds have blown recent snow into stiff wind slabs in lee features at alpine and treeline. Human triggering of wind slabs is possible.
As temperatures trend warmer and freezing levels rise, there is potential for the deep basal weak layers to become active. Deep persistent slab avalanches on these layers are most likely to be triggered from shallow snowpack areas near rocky outcroppings.
Wednesday night: Flurries. Moderate southwesterly winds. Freezing level around 1000 m.
Thursday: Flurries. Strong southwesterly winds. Freezing level rising to around 1500 m in the afternoon.
Friday: Around 4 cm new snow. Moderate southwesterly winds. Freezing level around 1800 m.
Saturday: Around 4 cm new snow. Moderate southwesterly winds. Freezing level around 1600 m.
On Monday we received reports of natural and explosive triggered wind slab avalanches size 1.5-2.
On January 16th, a natural size 2 wind slab stepped down to the deep persistent basal facets below a rock band, details here.
Recent strong westerly winds have formed stiff wind slabs in exposed terrain at treeline and alpine locations. A crust can be found at lower elevations and on solar aspects due to recent daytime warming and sun exposure.
A well consolidated mid-snowpack overlies a generally weak basal snowpack. The bottom 10-20 cm of the snowpack consists of facets and deteriorating crusts. There is potential for this deep persistent layer to reawaken in the warm alpine temperatures later in the week.
