Stick to sheltered, lower-angled terrain for the best and safest riding.
If over 25 cm falls overnight, think HIGH avalanche danger.
A November crust/facet layer exists deep in the snowpack. Conditions have lent well to cleaning out and stabilizing the problem, but it may still be possible to trigger, particularly in thin-to-thick areas in the alpine.
Ongoing snowfall and wind over the past few days will have formed fresh storm slabs that will likely be larger and more reactive in northerly, wind-loaded terrain.
On Sunday, a snow cat in the Whistler area triggered a size 2 persistent slab on a northwest aspect in the alpine. This avalanche failed on the mid november crust, down 60 to 160 cm. Skiers were also able to trigger size 1 storm slabs, mainly in wind-loaded areas, in the alpine and treeline.
Looking forward to Tuesday, reactive storm slabs continue to be primed for human-triggering from snow and wind.
In the past 2 days, up to 50 cm of new snow accompanied by strong southerly winds has left a variety of surfaces - wind slabs and loaded pockets in lee features, scoured rock in open terrain, and storm slabs and softer snow in sheltered areas.
This brings the past week's storm totals to over 100 cm of new snow! This new snow buries a melt-freeze crust that exists at 2200 m and below. The depth of this crust is highly variable due to extensive recent wind transport.
A crust with facets, formed in mid-November, is buried an estimated 80 to 150 cm deep. With limited observations, especially in the alpine (which did not have the same mid-pack crust development), we're not ready to rule out this layer of concern quite yet.
Monday Night
Cloudy. 20 cm of snow. 50 to 80 km/h south ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -6 °C.
Tuesday
Mostly cloudy. 5 to 15 cm of snow. 30 km/h south ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -7 °C.
Wednesday
Mix of sun and clouds. 2 to 4 cm of snow. 10 km/h southeast ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -7 °C.
Thursday
Mix of sun and clouds. 1 to 2 cm of snow. 10 km/h southeast ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -6 °C.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
