Small windslabs may be found in alpine terrain. These have been generally small and stubborn to trigger but may be enough to ruin your day in steep terrain.
Eastern areas of the region have a weaker than normal snowpack this year and avalanche terrain in these areas should be approached with caution.
Winds overnight on Wednesday created a thin layer of hard windslab in many alpine lee features. This adds to older windslabs that existed in isolated alpine terrain and may be triggerable in some areas. Be cautious of steep wind affected alpine terrain.
Dry and cold conditions will persist. Winds will be light on Friday and increase to moderate from the west overnight and into Saturday. We may see a trace of snow on Saturday night and winds will decrease on Sunday.
On Thursday, local ski hills were reporting thin hard windslabs ~ 10cm thick from the overnight winds. These were quite small in size and not overly reactive to skiier traffic.
No other avalanches observed or reported in our bulletin region, however there was a significant avalanche just west of our region that likely failed on the Jan. 30th layer in an area with a deeper snowpack and more of a slab above this layer.
Last weekend's storm has settled into 15-20 cm of snow with variable wind effect. This recent snow has buried a new weak layer (dated January 30) which will be important to watch in the future. Currently, minimal slab properties overlying the Jan 30th layer keep the danger moderate to low. The mid-pack is generally weak and faceted with an old crust and depth hoar near the base. The snowpack is the weakest in eastern areas where the basal weaknesses should not be forgotten.
