Practice good travel habits and choose conservative, low consequence lines. A buried weak layer has been reactive in recent days, creating large and surprising avalanches.
Make sure to read the Avalanche Problems section.
Over the past week, 40-80 cm of new snow buried a weak layer of facet/crust and surface hoar. This layer is most concerning on south-facing aspects, where a sun crust and facets may be buried, or in open areas at treeline and below, where surface hoar may be preserved.
The most reactivity has been seen around Malakwa (e.g., Queest/Gorge).
40-80 cm of recent storm snow, warm temperatures, and moderate southwest winds have formed storm slabs that have been most reactive in wind-affected terrain, or where slabs are sitting on a weak layer of surface hoar or a sun crust.
In steep sheltered terrain, small dry-loose sluffs may be reactive to human-triggering. Avoid terrain traps, such as gullies, where the consequences of a small avalanche could be serious.
A series of frontal systems coming in off the coast will bring light precipitation throughout the week.
Wednesday Overnight: Partially cloudy, light snowfall, up to 5 cm of accumulation. Freezing level dropping to 500 m. Moderate to strong southwest winds.
Thursday: Cloudy with snowfall, 5-15 cm of accumulation. Freezing level rising to 1500 m. Moderate to strong southwesterly winds.
Friday: Partially cloudy, light flurries. Freezing level rising to 1500 m in the afternoon. Light to moderate southwesterly winds.
Saturday: Mainly cloudy, light flurries. Freezing level around 1000 m. Light to moderate southwesterly winds.
On Tuesday, numerous natural and skier-triggered storm slabs were reported throughout the region. The larger and more consequential avalanches occurred in wind-loaded terrain or on the weak layer of surface hoar or crust below.
A natural avalanche cycle up to size 3 occurred on Monday afternoon with heavy snowfall, wind and warm temperatures.
Continued light precipitation will add to 30-60 cm of recent settling storm snow at treeline and above. Storm snow tapers rapidly below treeline, where moist snow or a melt-freeze crust can be expected from rain and warm temperatures.
This new snow is sitting on various surfaces, including hard wind-affected snow, sun crusts on southerly slopes, facetted snow, and isolated pockets of surface hoar. The new snow is bonding poorly to this old surface, especially where a facet/crust layer or surface hoar is present below.
The late February persistent weak layer combination of crust, facets and surface hoar is down 30-40 cm. Reports suggest this layer is not a problem in most areas. Two persistent weak layers from mid-February and late January are buried 50-120cm deep. No recent avalanches have been reported on these layers.
