Alpine
: Moderate
Treeline : Moderate
Below Treeline : Low
Travel Advisory : An ongoing series of weak weather systems is forecast to continue into Saturday. Light snowfall combined with light to moderate wind speeds has been gradually loading alpine start zones. You can expect to find isolated windslabs and areas of soft slab in more wind affected terrain, while sheltered areas are receiving a building layer of loose new snow. Now that we are into spring, the sun is packing a considerable punch and should be considered even on overcast days.
Avalanche Activity : Isolated size 1 soft slabs were triggered inbounds on Monday with both explosive and ski testing. Skier-triggered slabs pushing into the size two range were reported from the backcountry on Monday as well. The slabs were running on the old hard surfaces.
Snowpack : There are 20 to 40 centimetres of soft slab in lee and cross loaded alpine terrain, as well as many areas scoured down to old crusts. The March 11th rain-crust may be buried as deep as 60cm in alpine areas. On solar aspects there is also a weak temperature crust that may be 20 to 30 centimetres below the new snow. We have not seen any avalanche activity on the Dec. 5th facet/crust weakness since Jan. 21.
Weather : Unsettled conditions for the next few days will bring continued light precipitation, moderate winds and seasonal temperatures. A brief and relatively intense weather system is forecast from Saturday afternoon through Sunday morning.
For up to date bulletins from across the province surf to the Canadian Avalanche Center at www.avalanche.ca
