A buried weak layer may cause scary conditions to persist.
Test small, low consequence slopes before increasing your slope size.
A layer of surface hoar and a melt-freeze crust lurk in the middle of the snowpack. If triggered, it will be a large, dangerous avalanche.
Test the storm slab on small features before increasing your exposure. A lot of snow has fallen recently, and the snowpack needs time to adjust.
Whumpfing and rider-triggering of the buried surface hoar continued on Wednesday. An avalanche cycle occurred on Tuesday, with very large natural avalanches and lots of small rider-triggered storm slabs.
Around 50 to 80 cm of recent storm snow fell with strong southwest wind, forming deeper deposits in leeward terrain features.
Wide avalanches can be remotely triggered on a preserved layer of surface hoar that may be found in openings around treeline. This layer is underneath the new storm snow. This layer appears to be widespread south of Highway 16 and spottier north of the highway.
Below this is a hard melt-freeze crust from mid-November that may be an issue in the south of the region. If there are facets on this crust, be very cautious.
Thursday Night
Mostly cloudy with 1 to 2 cm of snow. 20 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -9 °C.
Friday
Mostly cloudy with 5 to 10 cm of snow. 20 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -10 °C.
Saturday
Mostly cloudy with 5 to 10 cm of snow. 30 to 60 km/h south ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -1 °C.
Sunday
Mostly cloudy with 15 to 30 mm of precipitation as snow or rain at treeline. 50 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature 0 °C. Freezing level 1900 m.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
