March 18-24th, 2023

A high pressure system dominated the week, producing clear skies and warm temperatures. This continued until last night when the storm arrived with light to moderate SW winds, mild temperatures, and convective flurries.

10-15cm of new snow overlies the March 24 interface. This interface comprises of faceted wind affect snow in open alpine and treeline terrain, surface hoar crystals preserved in sheltered areas found in all elevations, and a 1-3cm thick sun crust on solar aspects. We found a well settled mid snowpack and it feels like the basal facets are gaining strength. Height of snow averaged 270cm.

Over the week we observed wet loose avalanches to size 2 in steep rock alpine features when the temperatures were at their peak. During the storm today, we had sluffing on steep treeline features.

Ski quality is best on polar aspects as the crust on solar aspects is not producing corn snow yet.

Francisco Medina
Teresa Yau