Golden / Dogtooth Range

A thin crust has formed on south-facing terrain from recent solar radiation and overnight refreeze. On shaded aspects, 10 to 15 cm of recent snow overlies wind-affected, consolidated snow.Below this, 30 to 70 cm of snow overlies a thick crust from the recent atmospheric river, which extends up to at least 2200 m.Various persistent weak layers may still exist in the top 150 cm of the snowpack and in shallow snowpack areas, depth hoar (large facets) can be found near the bottom of the snowpack. Large triggers, like falling cornices, may be able to trigger these layers at upper elevations where the crust below the recent snow is thin or absent.

A large (size 3) cornice collapsed naturally on Tuesday near The Bugaboos, as well as one small skier accidental wind slab that occurred below a cornice near Golden.