Extreme winds have scoured snow from many areas and deposited it in gullies and lee features, creating wind slabs. Early-season hazards remain just below the surface.
New snow and wind Thursday will form a storm slab, watch for rapidly changing conditions.
There’s enough snow in the alpine to build up in lee features and steep gullies. A shallow snowpack and early season hazards can easily turn a minor slide into a bad situation.
A few small loose dry avalanches were observed in the Alpine on Saturday.
How to navigate Early Season Conditions
Our field team ventured out to Hilda Ridge on Saturday and found generally supportive travel. Early season hazards exist with snow just covering rocks & trees.
Treeline has 30-55cm of snow. Recent extreme winds have scoured much of the alpine and deposited snow into gullies and lee features making for great variability in snow depth. Alpine bowls & steep gullies are classic spots for early season avalanches.
Winds in the alpine will remain strong but have tapered off from the extreme winds that occurred on Monday. The Icefields is expecting light amounts of precipitation early in the week, then 15-30 cm of snow Thursday and into Friday, with potentially up to 50cm total. Freezing levels will rise in the storm anywhere from 2200-2500m.
For updated forecasts go to Jasper National Park Forecast.
