Avalanche danger will increase as new snow piles up.
Choose mellow terrain while you get familiar with the snowpack, practice your rescue skills, and get your winter legs under you.
The denser and slabbier the surface snow feels, the more likely it is to trigger an avalanche. Avalanches may be larger than expected in places where weak, sugary facets have formed above the early November crust.
On Wednesday and Thursday, a few small human triggered wind slab avalanches were reported in alpine terrain.
Looking forward, we expect that the incoming storm will make human triggered avalanches more likely.
If you are getting out in the backcountry, consider making a post on the MIN (Mountain Information Network)
20 - 30 cm of recent snow has fallen with fairly minimal wind effect. Below 2100 m you may find a thin crust under this soft snow.
The mid and lower snowpack is generally well settled and strong.
A crust buried in early November is 50-70 cm below the surface. In some places, there are weak facets or surface hoar above this crust, but the geographical extent of this weak layer is still uncertain. Avalanches on this layer have been more frequent further north, but it will be an important interface to monitor as the recent snow settles, and more snow adds to the load.
Treeline snowpack depths are expected to be around 150 cm.
Thursday Night
Partly cloudy with 2-4 cm snow expected. 15-30 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -5 °C.
Friday
Mostly cloudy with 4-8 cm of snow expected. 15-45 km/h southeast ridgetop wind, highest speeds in the afternoon. Treeline temperature -2 °C.
Saturday
Cloudy with 2-8 cm of snow expected. 10-20 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature - 5 °C.
Sunday
Mostly cloudy with 2-6 cm of snow expected. 10-20 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -7 °C.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
