Lots of good skiing out there, especially in sheltered areas. Be on the lookout for wind slabs growing with Friday's strong winds.
Friday's strong westerly winds might impact the alpine and possibly increase the hazard. Wind slabs exist in Alpine and Treeline, especially in lee and cross-loaded terrain.
This problem will be with us all season. At higher elevations, there is more concern that these deep persistent weak layers could be triggered by skiers or riders.
No new avalanches were observed today.
5-8cm of recent snow is overlying the weak facetted snow from last week as well as wind slabs in alpine terrain up to 30cm thick along ridgelines and in gullied features. The forecasters skied in the Black Prince area today and found good skiing but the snow had a bit of a stiffer feel to it. The Dec 5th crust can be found in the bottom third of the snowpack and exists up to 2350m with weak facets and depth hoar below this layer. Thin areas are places a skier may be able to trigger a failure in these basal facets that can propagate across a feature. Be cautious travelling below tree line as the snowpack is shallower and logs and tree stumps are lurking just under the surface.
Temperatures are on the rise......
Friday: Your ski day will start on the coolish side of -21c and is suppose to warm up to a balmy -8c. This warming trend will start around noon and bring strong westerly winds, and light flurries.
Saturday and Sunday: Light flurries and highs of -2c both days.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
