The recent storm snow will need more time to bond with the layer below. Be patient, safer riding conditions are on the horizon.
Expect rider triggerable storm and wind slabs throughout the region. This problem is more significant in the North of the region. Use extra caution on lee slopes and wind effected terrain.
Wednesday night: Freezing levels will fall to near valley bottom over night. some light flurries accumulating up to 15mm in the South of the region. winds will be strong from the Southwest.
Thursday: some light flurries but generally clear. Freezing level will be valley bottom. winds moderate from the West.
Friday: temperature at 1200m will be -7 with light to moderate West winds. No new snow is expected.
Saturday: Temperature at 1200m will be -10, clear day with no snow expected. winds will be light to moderate from the West.
We suspect a widespread natural avalanche cycle to have occurred Tuesday night during the peak of the storm.
A fatal avalanche involvement occurred in the Hasler riding area on Saturday. A machine triggered size 3 resulted in two partial burials who survived and a full burial who did not survive. Find the full report here.
Also on Saturday, a very large natural avalanche was reported to the Mountain Information Network from the Core Lodge riding area.
The recent storm has formed new wind slabs in lee features in the alpine and treeline. There is likely a new crust below 1800m.
A steady storm pattern has given the snowpack little time to stabilize between snowfalls. Underneath around 1 m of all this recent storm snow lies a rain crust.
The lower snowpack consists of a series of early season crusts. These appear to be strong, but shallow alpine slopes along the eastern side of the Rockies towards Jasper may have weaker, faceted snow near the ground. Anywhere this type of basal snowpack condition exists is a serious concern with recent loading. There is potential for storm slab releases to trigger deeper snowpack layers and produce very large avalanches in these areas.
Snowpack depths are anticipated to be approaching 3 m in the alpine and around 1 m at treeline. Pine Pass area is currently the leader for snowpack depths so far this season.
