When the highway to White Pass reopens adopt a cautious mindset while you figure out conditions. If you are headed to the Wheaton Valley, be alert to its weaker snowpack structure. Err on the side of more conservative low angle terrain.
Assuming there's still snow available for transport, the wind should be building new wind slabs to the lee of the wind (north through east slopes) and in cross-loaded features.
In colder drier areas -- like the Wheaton -- the entire snowpack could be in play because the weakness extends to the ground. Recent avalanche were reported to have run far through the trees. Read the snowpack section of this forecast. As you approach avalanche terrain, whumpfs are a critical sign that the snowpack is unstable & primed.
SATURDAY NIGHT: A few flurries, accumulation 1-3 cm, light west switching to north wind, alpine temperatures -10 C.
SUNDAY: Mainly cloudy with isolated flurries possible, light northeast wind, alpine temperatures a few degrees cooler around -12 C.
MONDAY: Mainly cloudy with sunny breaks, light to moderate northwest wind, alpine temperatures around -13 C.
TUESDAY: A mix of sun and cloud, moderate southwest wind, alpine temperatures -8 C.
With the South Klondike Highway closed, for White Pass avalanche summary, read Wed March 03 forecast.
With recreational traffic diverted to places like the Wheaton, our field team did similar this week. They observed up to size 2.5 avalanches, especially on south facing slopes, starting high on ridges and rolling well into and through the trees. See a couple of MIN posts here and here.
The term 'Wheatonesque whumpfs' is worth holding onto. Remember that a whumpf is an avalanche that tried, with one key ingredient is missing -- slope angle. Whumpf the right terrain and you've converted it into the real thing, hopefully it's not rolling down ontop of you.
For White Pass snowpack structure read Wed March 03 forecast.
With the South Klondike Highway closed lets talk about the Wheaton Valley snowpack. There is likely a crust that has formed on the surface on steeper sunny aspects with recent sunshine. The Wheaton's continental snowpack is the kind of thing you'd find around Jasper or Kananaskis Country. It's a weak snowpack dominated by sugary facets and depth hoar, the icing is either layers or a fat cap of harder cohesive slab. It's an untrustworthy structure that, in the old days, was compared to the crazy mother-in-law who lives in your basement and you never know when the relationship is going to go sideways. To re-phrase, it's an untrustworthy structure that requires really good terrain selection and travel habits, or a healthy dose of luck.
