Blue River

Check out this blog post for some insight into the current shallow yet complex snowpack.

A large (size 3), naturally triggered deep persistent slab avalanche in alpine terrain was reported yesterday. It occurred just north of Glacier National Park.

Have a look at this blog post that highlights several recent, similar large avalanches occurring on layers deep within the snowpack.

The upper snowpack is generally well-settled and consolidated with no significant layers of concern.

A layer of surface hoar buried in early December down roughly 50 to 90 cm remains problematic despite any recent signs of reactivity. At lower elevations, a hard crust above this layer may protect it from human-triggering.

The bottom of the snowpack is characterized by weak basal facets.

Currently, the snowpack is particularly complex, with considerable variation across different locations.

Sunday night

Cloudy with no precipitation, southwest alpine winds 10 to 20 km/h, treeline temperature -5 °C.

Monday

Cloudy with no precipitation, southwest alpine winds 10 to 20 km/h, treeline temperature -6 °C.

Tuesday

Mostly cloudy with no precipitation, southeast alpine winds 10 to 20 km/h, treeline temperature -8 °C.

Wednesday

Mostly cloudy with no precipitation, south alpine winds 10 to 20 km/h, treeline temperature -6 °C.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

• Avoid steep, rocky, and wind effected areas where triggering slabs is more likely.
• Keep in mind that human triggering potential persists as natural avalanching tapers off.
• Uncertainty is best managed through conservative terrain choices at this time.