Yesterday was cloudy and cold with hard packed fast groomers all day. Plenty busy being the weekend with a long line of cars heading out of the valley yesterday evening.

Last night saw snow begin to fall and there was 3-5 cms of light fluffy powder in the valley this morning. Cold temperatures continuing still with minus 3 in the valley and minus 8 on the top of Goryu. Not enough snow to affect the base reports from patrol but should be some nice powder to be found this morning. Cloudy from 1600m so good visibility on the skifield throw in your amber lenses and enjoy.

More snow forecast later in the week.


Backcountry Travel Advisory (as at January 20th):

Recent low temperatures have not been helping to increase bonding at the interface between the January 12th rain crust and January 14th wind slab. New slab avalanches that have been observed on South and South East aspects in the alpine over the past few days are testament to the poor bonding. Winds at ridge top have been moderate North westerlies and strong enough to continue adding load to those wind slabbed lee slopes. Solar radiation on these Southern slopes is also a concern as snow around rocks, trees and steeper slopes warms up and possibly looses cohesion. Northern aspects will have less accumulated new snow on top of the January 12th rain crust and will be less likely to produce avalanches than southern slopes, but be aware that this will change rapidly with new snow fall also be aware that it will be easier to loose an edge and go for a long uncontrolled slide on top of the exposed rain crust. Clear skies, cool temperatures and calm winds over night will result in surface hoar frost to develop and possibly produce a weak layer under any new snow that may fall over the days coming.

Be very cautious in areas of wind slab, especially in larger terrain features at or above tree line. Constraining your routes to ridges and well supported slopes is the best course of action if traveling in the backcountry. If you have to travel in suspect areas use proper spacing between party members and regroup in safe areas. Be alert for tell tale signs of weak interfaces under the wind slab; Whoomphing, Shooting cracks and hollow sounds from under the hard wind slab while traveling.

Avalanche Hazard:

Alpine: Considerable
Tree Line: Considerable
Below Tree line: Moderate