Gudauri

Prolonged dry periods this season lead to formation of multiple layers of faceted snow at the bottom of the snowpack as well as in the middle of it. Snowpack was reported to consist entirely of faceted snow on some slopes. That created a particularly weak support for the fresh snow that is forecasted to fall during the night on 05th of january and might lead to bigger step-down full-profile avalanches in the high alpine areas where the wind slabs might form during the wind that will follow the snowfall.

Upcoming snowfall will bring 20-30 cms of fresh snow in the alpine and the high alpine. That will be immediately followed by some moderate westerly winds that will move this fresh snow to the leeward slopes. Such conditions provide conditions for the wind slabs to form.

As it is likely that the current snowfall will bring ~30 cms of fresh snow in the high alpine, storm slabs might form in this area (including the wind-shielded areas on leeward aspects)

Dry loose avalanches are likely to be triggered by riders on steeper slopes on higher elevations and on the shaded aspects in the sub-alpine, where there there was still enough snow cover up until now

date: january 4, size: 1.5, aspect: [NW], elevation: Alpine, triggered by: Rider Unintentional, type: Slab, Description: A small slab was triggered by a rider on the NW face in the Khada valley

date: january 3, size 2, aspect [NE], eleation: High Alpine, triggered by: Natural, type: Wind slab, Description: Natural avalanche observed on NE slope of Bidara N peak overlooking the Kobi pass

date: december 31, size 2, aspect [SW], elevation: High Alpine, triggered by: Natural, Description: Natural avalanche was observed in the SW couloir below Sadzele peak

date: december 31, size 2, aspect [NE, E], elevation: High alpine, triggered by: Natural, Description: Multiple natural avalanches were observed in the couloirs on the E faces of W ridge along the Kobi resort area

date: december 31, size 2, aspect [NW, W], elevation: High alpine, triggered by: Natural, Description: Multiple natural avalanches were observed in the couloirs on the W faces of E ridge along the Kobi resort area

date: december 28, size: 1.5-2, aspect: [N,NE], elevation: Alpine, triggered by: Rider Unintentional, type: Slab, Description: Multiple smaller avalanches were triggered by a group of riders in the lower Kobi area

Snowpack: First and the heaviest snowfall of the season occured on 25-27th of November with some 60-80 cms of fresh snow that has settled down to 40-45 cms of snow at 2000 m on S aspects. This snowfall was followed by a long cold and dry period with clear skies and moderate to strong westerly winds. Two smaller snowfalls later occured on the 18th and 28th of december and brought around 20cms each at 2000 m. There was a warmer period with air temps above 0 celcius throughout the day in between of these. Now the snowpack is 40-60-cms in total in the alpine and around 1 m in the high alpine. All this contributed to the widespread thick layers of faceted snow that are reported on shaded as well as solar aspects on higher elevations. Some whoompfing was reported on the N slopes in the Khada valley at 2300 m.

Current snowfall will continue up until early daylight hours of 06 of January with air temps around -10C and will bring around 20 cms of fresh snow at 2000 m. (30cms likely on the higher elevations) No significant wind is forecasted for lower elevations yet some stronger, moderate westerly winds with wind speeds up to 30 km/h are forecasted for the high alpine. Air temps on 06th of January will be around -8C during the day and later will drop to as low as -12 during the night at 2000 m. On 7th of January temps will gradually rise up to -3C during the day.