Use caution on north and east slopes where strong winds are building fresh wind slabs that are possible to human trigger.
Continued strong southwest winds will transport available snow and build fresh wind slabs on leeward slopes Friday. Watch for slab conditions becoming stiffer and more cohesive as you move into wind exposed terrain. New wind slabs may be reactive to rider triggering.
A weak layer of facets exists near the base of the snowpack. The likelihood of human triggering is low given the layer's depth.
Thinner snowpack areas may be more suspectable to triggering.
On Wednesday, a few natural thin windslab avalanches were observed in the alpine. A siker accidental size 1.5 wind slab avalanche was reported on a northeast slope at 2150m.
On Tuesday, in the southern part of the region, a natural icefall size 2 was reported from a NE aspect in the high alpine. This did not pull a slab avalanche from the slope below.
If you are getting out in the backcountry, consider making a post on the MIN (Mountain Information Network). You can share riding conditions, avalanche or snowpack observations, or even just a photo.
Friday's flurries overlie 10-30 cm of snow that is settling and bonding to a widespread crust on most aspects except north-facing high alpine slopes, where it sits on old, faceted surfaces.
The middle of the snowpack is generally well-settled and strong.
A weak layer of large facets is found near the base of the snowpack. This layer is still a concern in shallow snowpack areas.
Thursday Night
Cloudy with isolated flurries, trace accumulation. Ridgetop wind 50-70 km/h from the southwest. Freezing levels 1500 m. Treeline low around -2°C.
Friday
Cloudy with flurries, 3-10 cm accumulation. Ridgetop wind 40-60 km/h from the southwest. Freezing level rising to 1700 m. Treeline high around 0°C.
Flurries continue through the night, 3-5 cm of accumulation.
Saturday
Mainly cloudy with sunny periods and scattered flurries, 1-3 cm accumulation. Ridgetop wind 50-70 km/h from the southwest. Freezing levels 1500 m.
Sunday
Cloudy with scattered flurries, 2-5 cm accumulation. Ridgetop wind 60-80 km/h from the southwest. Freezing levels 2000 m.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
