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I've been skiing in the Valkyrs south of Nakusp this week. We have two widespread persistent layers in the upper snowpack, a graupel layer buried 25-45 cm deep, and the Feb 26 surface hoar is 30-60 cm deep. We have had moderate sudden shears on these layers until today when we saw them tighten to hard resistant on a north aspect at 1960m. There has only been spotty avalanche activity, some lee and crossloaded slopes avalanched last Monday during a snow and wind event, up to size 2. Then mid-week when it got hot (+3.5 with intense solar radiation) there were a few more size 2 slabs releasing on solar affected slopes. There was lots of whumpfing and cracking when it was hot, but nothing today.
We are still treating these layers with a lot of respect and using small, lower consequence terrain although we have ventured onto slopes in the 35 degree range. Definitely staying away from the big stuff though. Mark Klassen Mountain Guide
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