No new avalanches were reported Wednesday.

Recent activity has been limited to size 2 cornice falls and a few wet loose avalanches. The only notable persistent slab in the past two weeks was rider-triggered near Wasa on Apr 11.

With rapid warming expected, avalanche activity is likely to increase.

About 5 cm of recent snow sits above a hard melt-freeze crust on northerly alpine slopes. Elsewhere, the snow surface is expected to become moist from sun and warm temperatures.

The bottom half of the snowpack is generally weak and faceted. The snowpack at lower elevations is melting rapidly.

Thursday Night

Clear skies. 10 to 20 km/h northwest ridgetop wind. Freezing level drops to 500 m.

Friday

Clear skies. 10 to 30 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature +5 °C. Freezing level 2500 m.

Saturday

Mostly cloudy with flurries. 10 to 30 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature 0 °C. Freezing level 2100 m.

Sunday

Mostly cloudy with 5 to 10 cm of snow. Light and variable wind. Treeline temperature 0 °C. Freezing level 2000 m.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

Few natural avalanches have been observed on the highway corridor over the past 4 days.

Neighboring operations are reporting small wet loose avalanches on solar facing terrain and natural cornice falls.

On Apr 14, a party observed several sz 2 wet/loose avalanches from steep, S-facing terrain on Mt Green.

On Apr 11, a skier triggered sz 2 wind slab on the Dome glacier at 2450 m, NE asp.

Also on Apr 11, a wide-propagating, rider triggered sz 2.5 on Bruins Glacier.

Daily melt/freeze cycles are affecting the surface of the snowpack on solar slopes and all aspects up to 2200m, with several crusts of variable strength in the upper snowpack. High alpine, north facing slopes still hold dry snow. A spotty, buried surface hoar layer exists down 15-40cm in sheltered north alpine areas above ~2300m. This layer has been reactive to human triggering in the past week.

Below treeline, conditions are variable and challenging travel exists.

A final day of clear skies on Friday and strong solar inputs. Saturday a cold front ushers in flurries/showers.

Tonight Clear. Alp low -2°C. Ridge wind NW 10-25 km/h. Freezing Level (FZL) 1500m

Fri Sun & cloud. Alp high 2°C. Ridge wind SW 15-25 km/h. FZL 2400-2900m

Sat Cloudy/flurries. 5 cm Alp high 0°C. Ridge wind W 20-30km/h. FZL 2200m

Sun Cloudy/flurries 5cm Alp high -2°C. Ridge wind light. FZL 1900m.

A few natural, persistent slab avalanches to size 2.5 occurred on Pilot Mountain on Thursday (trigger unknown). These were on high, North-facing terrain, showing that avalanches are still possible on the deeper layers. No other avalanches were reported on Thursday.

Surface crusts exist on solar aspects to ridgetop and on all aspects at treeline and below. On northerly aspects, 10-30 cm dry snow with isolated wind slabs in lee areas of the alpine. The March 27 crust is 30-70 cm deep and extends to about 2500m. Below the settled midpack, there are still facets and depth hoar to the ground.

Expect 2500m+ freezing levels on Friday with plenty of sun and light winds. See image below for more details.