The chance of triggering an old wind slab on facets is quite low, but that won't matter if you find the sweet spot! Keep up safe travel practices and the extra caution around ridgelines.
Old hard wind slabs over weak sugary facets on a hard crust could still be human-triggerable in isolated locations, mainly in rocky, steep alpine terrain.
On Saturday a skier accidentally triggered a large avalanche near Hudson Bay Mountain. It is suspected that this avalanche failed on the same persistent weak layer described in our snowpack summary. Check this MIN post for full details.
A few small natural avalanches were also reported in the Babines.
On Friday, a small ( size 1) skier-triggered size slab avalanche was reported in the Hudson Bay Mountain area. This avalanche failed on the same persistent weak layer.
A variety of conditions can be found in exposed terrain at treeline and above, including crusty and wind affected surfaces. In sheltered terrain, there is up to 5 cm of snow on top of a breakable crust and new surface hoar development.
In isolated areas in the alpine, old, often hard wind slabs overlie a persistent layer of weak, sugary facets above a crust. This has kept some old slabs surprisingly sensitive to human triggering.
The remainder of the snowpack is generally not concerning.
Watch for a MIN from our field team in the Sinclair area on Tuesday!
Tuesday night
Mainly clear. 5 - 10 km/h northwest alpine wind. Freezing level to valley bottom.
Wednesday
A mix of sun and cloud. 5 - 10 km/h north alpine wind, shifting west and increasing overnight. Treeline temperature -3 °C with freezing level to 700m.
Thursday
Becoming mainly sunny. 20 - 40 km/h west alpine wind, increasing. Treeline temperature around -3 °C with freezing level rising to 700 m.
Friday
Cloudy with flurries bringing about 5 cm of new snow. 50 - 60 km/h southwest alpine winds. Treeline temperature -2 °C with freezing levels to 1100 m.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
