I hope this finds Everyone keeping well and having a good start to the season.
There's been a lot of wind during these past few days with some high alpine gusts, during the initial onslaught of this storm, recorded at 150km/hr. Snowfall has been steadily accumulating, as well, and many natural terrain anchors (boulders, stumps, etc.) are quickly being buried, which potentially means that avalanches can run more freely over previously rougher terrain and for longer distances. It's winter up there and it feels more like late-December.
Windslabs have continuously been building in traditional lee terrain (the northerly quadrants) in open treeline and alpine locations. Steeper terrain in these zones would seem primed for destructive slab avalanches.
A look into the snow at 5200' (below-treeline location) in an open, meadow-like area, that has not seen any traffic so far this year nor 'much' wind-affect, showed 160cm on the ground! Testing of the snow there revealed some weaknesses in the layering (specifically, all of this recent storm snow) both 25cm and 44cm below the snow surface. The way these layers reacted tells me that they're 'maturing' and trending toward building strength. My guess is that similar layers, though, lurking higher up in that steep, open treeline and alpine terrain currently have the potential to react more wildly.
It's a good time to be prudent about what kind of terrain you are skiing and what kind of terrain is hanging up above you. Cloud cover and terrain features can hide that 'hanging' terrain, so consider your routes carefully.
Tracksetting is a good workout right now and having ski-poles with larger baskets can help keep you floatin' (instead of sinkin') a bit more.
The snowpack could use a bit of time 'off' to 'cure' and gain more strength, but it looks like - at least at the time of this writing, and for a while yet, that more snow and further strong winds have settled back into the hills......
Wishing Everyone a safe start to the season ahead,
Dale Marcoux
ACMG Assistant Ski Guide
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