Remember to avoid wind slabs of varying vintages at higher elevations but don't forget about our weak layers buried further down.
Limit your exposure to connect and unsupported terrain.
A mix of old and new wind slabs are scattered across upper elevations after days of constantly shifting winds. Older slabs may now be quite stubborn but more recent slabs are likely still reactive to human triggering.
Faceted grains make up the basal snowpack and are gaining strength very slowly. This layer has been relatively quiet recently but can still be triggered with a heavier load, like a cornice fall for example, and in areas with a thinner snowpack. Any avalanche triggered this deep will likely be large and destructive.
Ski cutting in the Fernie area on Monday and Tuesday yielded numerous small (size 1) wind slab releases. This problem affects all aspects and the most recent slab formations will likely remain reactive to human triggering through Wednesday at least.
Sunday saw a cornice fail naturally but it did not trigger buried weak layers in this instance. Even so, it's a great reminder to be mindful and to practice avoidance of overhead hazards.
Although they have not produced avalanches in the last few days, a deep persistent slab problem still affects the region and should steer you away from thin or variable depth snowpack locations and shallow rocky start zones throughout the region.
Variable winds above 1800 m have affected exposed areas. Wind slabs have been continuously forming and gradually stabilizing on a range of aspects as a result of this pattern. Below this elevation, 10-20 cm of recent snow has settled on a melt-freeze crust that developed earlier this month.
A crust/facet layer, 2 to 15 cm thick at treeline is 50 to 90 cm below the surface. Where it's thickest, it caps the settled and consolidated mid-snowpack.
Another crust/facet layer is down 70 to 150 cm. Below this crust, the basal snowpack is weak and faceted. The total snowpack depth ranges between 90 and 250 cm.
Wednesday Night
Increasing cloud, possible trace accumulation, wind southwest getting up to 23 km/h in early morning hours, treeline temps around -4 C.
Thursday
Mostly cloudy, possible trace accumulation, winds southwest 22 km/h, treeline temps around -6 C and slightly warmer in the alpine.
Friday
Cloudy, up to 4 cm accumulation in the morning with up to another 13 cm in the evening, winds mostly from the north and west 15 km/h, treeline temps around -5 C.
Saturday
Cloudy, up to 2 cm accumulation ending in the morning, winds north 30 km/h, treeline temperatures dropping down to -22 C.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
