Kananaskis

Cooler temperatures this past week have faceted out the upper snowpack making a bit of "Rockies facetted-powder". Variable areas of thick to thin, especially in steep areas we still continue to avoid, especially where the upper snowpack is stiff and hard due to winds earlier in the month.

High

• We are confident due to a stable weather pattern.

No new avalanches have been observed or reported in a few days.

Cooler temperatures have begun to facet out the upper snowpack and improving the skiing quality a little bit. The main concern is triggering the deep weak basal layers from a thin or variable snow pack areas. The skiing in general is somewhat variable out there right now. Northern aspects are providing the best skiing opportunities but don't expect a smooth ride. Be on guard for isolated wind affect also some crusts from the warm temperatures earlier in January. Solar aspects are even a bit more variable with the presence of a more robust melt freeze crust... down 5-10cm.

A new SH layer was recently buried down only 5-10cm as high as 2500m. While not much of an issue yet, as more snow arrives, and this layer becomes more buried, it will become a concern within the snowpack.

Mix of sun and cloud, moderate westerly winds and day time highs around -7C is the forecast for Wednesday. One forecast shows snow starting on Friday! Not a lot but some!

https://hpfx.collab.science.gc.ca/~fsg006/productviewer/ab/table/AB_Rockies_Forecast.html

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

• Avoid thin areas like rocky outcrops where you're most likely to trigger avalanches on deep weak layers.