Avoid avalanche terrain. An avalanche cycle is ongoing.
Wind slabs are everywhere at Treeline and above. These slabs are sensitive to human triggering, and a natural avalanche cycle is occurring.
Cornices are large and easily triggered. A large cornice failure could trigger a wind slab or a deep persistent slab on the underlying slope. Avoid all exposure to cornices.
This problem is still with us. Thin snowpack areas are generally more concerning, as this is where triggering the deep instability is more likely.
Ski cutting produces loose dry avalanches up to size 1.0 in steep Treeline terrain. Some small slabs were also triggered in this elevation band on small, non-consequential test features. Visibility was extremely limited in heavy snow all day, but we suspect there is a natural avalanche cycle ongoing.
Heavy snow is expected on Saturday with as much as 30cm possible by the end of day. Temperatures will fall with the approaching cold front with midday temps near -10. Winds will also decrease slightly with light to moderate SW winds.The storm ends late Saturday bringing a mix of sun and cloud on Sunday.
Heavy snow today and last night has deposited up to 15cm of fresh snow in the past 24 to 36 hours. The recent storm snow is settling and now consists of 40 to 60cm in the past week. The new snow does not appear to be bonding well and is sluffing easily in steeper terrain with ski cutting. In the Alpine and open areas at Treeline there are widespread wind slabs of varying depths and densities. The forecast team today observed cracking and small releases while ski testing in small steep convex features at 2300m.
