Blue skies yesterday morning but the wind picked up and clouds came in around lunchtime dropping a few casual flakes. Some strong winds on exposed slopes yesterday meant cold blasts but nicely groomed runs, no lift lines, uncrowded slopes, powder from the last snowfall and some fresh snow Wednesday night made for a sweet day.
Low cloud and snow flurries this morning, visibility poor down to 1000m with changeable Westerlies gusting in exposed areas. -6 in the valley so will be cold up top especially on exposed slopes due to wind-chill, wrap up warm.
Backcountry Travel Advisory:
Pick conservative lines and use good group control and safety measures. There are still multiple shear layers in the upper 1 m of the snow pack that may propagate and create avalanches in steep moderate and complicated terrain. Alpine bowls and chutes with big consequences should be avoided or reassessed for stability. Do not get fooled by the Ice Crust of January 12 as it is still a lingering week layer and faceting around this layer is prominent and depth hoar has also been found around this layer in multiple areas. Shear and compression tests have found moderate results on this layer and the shear plane is very clean and could produce problems so do assess stability of this layer before jumping in.
Take due care out there and take mellow lines in simple terrain.
Avalanche Hazard:
Alpine: High
Tree line: High
Below Tree Line: Considerable
See Below for International Danger scale classifications or click on the Canadian Avalanche Association web page for the International Danger Scale.
TEMPERATURE IN THE VILLAGE:
-6 degrees C.
TEMPERATURE AT TOP OF MOUNTAIN:
-10 degrees C.
WIND:
Changing Westerlies.
VISIBILITY:
Average due to snow
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Happo-One:
BASE DEPTH: 100 cm(at the base); 260 cm(at 1500m)
Goryu/47:
BASE DEPTH:105 cm(at the base); 305 cm(at 1500m)
Tsugaike Kogen:
BASE DEPTH: 160 cm(at the base); 265 cm(at 1500m)
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LIFT OPERATION:
Goryu Toomi, Hakuba 47, Happo-One, Tsugaike Kogen, Iwatake, Cortina, Sanosaka, Sun Alpina, Minekata, Hakuba Highland, Yanaba, all open.