Warm temps are helping settle out the snowpack in the long term but without much snow in the forecast the skiing is pretty challenging in most places. Great temps for ice climbing though!
Just as you transition from treeline into the alpine watch for wind slabs. Lee and cross-loaded features are the main areas of concern.
This problem will be with us all season. At higher elevations there is more concern that these deep persistent weak layers could be human triggerable.
Nothing new observed in the last couple of days.
Low density snow is found on the surface at lower elevations and in sheltered areas. However, recent winds have created wind slabs in the Alpine and stripped windward slopes down to bare rock in many areas. The early December crust found about 20-35cm down is keeping the skis from diving down into the weaker basal layers of the snowpack, but in areas with denser tree/bush coverage, this crust does not hold the weight of a skier. For better travel conditions look for open planar slopes below approximately 2300m where the crust is supportive. Overall the snowpack across the region is quite shallow, and the basal layers consist of weak facets and depth hoar. This is potentially most concerning at higher elevations where the Dec rain crust disappears and there is simply slab sitting on weak basal layers.
Pretty static weather these days! Temps on Friday will be around -4C with light winds and clear skies. one day it will snow again!!!
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
