Rider triggering of the November 17th persistent weak layer remains possible in isolated terrain features. Assess the snowpack carefully before stepping out in to large open slopes, especially around treeline. Be extra cautious with terrain that hasn't seen significant skier traffic yet this season.
Wind slabs created on the weekend are slowly being facetted out by cold temps. Watch for hard deposits of snow in the alpine formed by strong SW winds.
Be cautious stepping out in to terrain that is further afield, and may not have received previous heavy skier traffic. The Nov 17 surface hoar is in rider triggering range down 50-90cm, and continues to give easy-moderate results in snowpack tests.
Cold temps are facetting the upper snowpack. 5-10 cm of snow from Wednesday was blown into fresh windslabs in the alpine. The Nov 17 persistent slab (surface hoar 5-30mm, facets, and crust) is down 50-90cm with the largest surface hoar present on sheltered slopes at treeline and below.
Snowpack depth is still variable, with early season hazards still dominating the landscape below treeline.
Saturday will start cold (alpine low of -17°C) and cloudy. Temps will gradually warm to a high of -6°C, with clearing skies and light westerly ridgetop winds.
Sunday will be sunny with alpine highs of -4°C, and light E winds.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
A field team in the Hermit area on Friday experienced whumfing and remotely triggered cookies of snow from unsupported pillows in openings below treeline, all on the Nov. 17th surface hoar layer.
Few natural avalanches have been observed along the highway corridor in the last 3 days. No new reports of backcountry rider triggered avalanches.
One MIN report of 'whumpfing' and remote triggering several avalanches up to size 1.5, ~50cm deep, on moraine features below Glacier Crest on Monday. A Parks Canada field team experienced widespread 'whumpfing' at treeline and below in the Fidelity area on Monday as well.
