Sunny St Mary's

AVCAN FORECASTER , Wednesday 12th February, 2025 5:15PM

A cold start to the day at -22 when we left the truck, but it quickly warmed up once we were in the sun. As we were moving up through treeline, we had a whumpf in an open area in the trees on a south aspect. We dug down to investigate and found the January 30th weak layer buried 37 cm deep and comprised of small sugary facets (size 1) and a few surface hoar crystals above a crust. It seems like there isn't enough slab above the weak layer to spread a failure on most slopes. We saw a few small dry loose avalanches from steep terrain in the alpine. Hard to tell how old they were, maybe 24-48 hours old? Riding quality was great; it was cold, dry, and fast. Just watch out for areas that have a slab on top.