Stick to polar aspects and sheltered terrain to find the best skiing.
Expect sluffing in steep terrain and watch for exposure to cliffs and terrain traps.
Recent strong NE winds have created firm wind slabs in the Alpine. Though stubborn to trigger, there may be pockets of slab sitting on weak facets, waiting for the right load to set them free to flow downhill.
Incoming storm snow will be landing on a very firm sun crust on solar aspects and a variety of surfaces on polar aspects. Steep slopes will try to shed this new snow, which could gather significant mass below and be very problematic in terrain traps.
No new natural avalanches observed along the highway corridor Tuesday.
On Monday, a few point-release dry sluffs were noted from steep terrain on Tupper and Macdonald.
In the past week, riders have been triggering unexpected avalanches, near ridgetop in wind effected terrain. These avalanches failed on a prominent crust down ~30-50cm. Terminal Pk & Connaught drainage
5-10 cm of new snow freshly covers a spring like conditions. These include: soft snow in protected terrain on polar aspects, breakable crust on steep solar aspects, and variable wind slab in exposed terrain at ridge top.
A strong, supportive crust (widespread below 2500m) is down 30-50cm, makes for challenging travel and a layer for avalanches to slide on.
The mid-lower snowpack has strengthened. Isolated pockets of shallow, weak snow can be found in the high alpine.
A weak disturbance this week will bring clouds, light snow, and freezing levels hovering around 1300 m.
Tonight: Cloudy/flurries, 5 cm, Alp low -5°C, ridgetop winds SW light gusting to Mod.
Wed: Cloudy/isolated flurries, Alp high -5°C, light SW winds.
Thurs: Cloudy/isolated flurries, Alp high -6°C, mod W winds.
Fri: Flurries, 5-10cm, Alp high -6°C, light/gusting mod SW wind.
