Recent snow and wind have created a reactive stormslab. Expect this slab to become more reactive when the sun pops out.
Its spring and conditions change wildly depending on aspect, elevation and time of day. Stack the odds in your favour- avoid low elevation, South and West facing slopes in the afternoon!!
A reactive storm slab exists in the alpine and at treeline. This layer is heavy new snow sitting on a crust and it's able to pick up mass in steep terrain. Expect recent winds to have redistributed it into a soft wind slab at ridge top in the alpine.
Without a proper cold night to refreeze the snowpack surface, point releases of sloppy snow can gather significant mass as it rumbles downslope. This mass can gouge deeply, especially at lower elevations.
Thursday our field team found a reactive storm slab on a steep alpine features, that failed 20cms deep and 5m wide.
Loose wet avalanches were also observed from steep south facing terrain, triggered by warm temps and strong solar radiation.
Near neighbours just outside the park are reporting a reactive surface hoar layer down 20-30cms that exists on high elevation north facing slopes. Dig down and have a look for this layer before jumping into large or committing features.
The upper snowpack constantly changes in the Spring. Dry to moist (elevation dependent) snow is sandwiched by multiple melt-freeze crusts. High Alpine, North-facing slopes hold cold, dry snow, while S'ly slopes warm up daily, creating another crust for snow to fall upon.
A storm slab exists at ridgecrest and along cross-loaded slopes, Treeline and Alpine.
Persistent weak layers linger in the mid-snowpack but will likely remain inactive.
Fluctuating freezing levels and snow/rain squalls will give a mixed bag of weather.
Tonight Flurries giving 8cm of snow. Alp low -6°C. Ridge wind SW 30km/h, gusting 65. Freezing Level (FZL) 1200m.
Fri Clouds with sun, isolated flurries. Alp high -5°C. Ridge wind SW 20-30. FZL 1700m.
Sat Sun, cloud, and flurries. Alp high -6°C. Ridge wind W 20-40km/h. FZL 1500m.
Sun Mix sun & cloud. Ridge wind W 10-30. FZL 1900m.
