Ski quality has improved but be careful on windloaded slopes. Yesterdays Northerly winds have created wind slabs in unusual locations due to reverse loading. The base of the snowpack is still weak & early-season hazards remain hidden just below the surface.
Happy Holidays from the Jasper Team!
We're hoping for some MIN's for x mas :)
Previous strong winds have stripped exposed alpine and tree-line terrain, creating hard wind slabs in cross-loaded and lee features. These winds switched from Southwest to Northwest on Friday, reverse loading features where snow remained.
You must keep this basal layer on your radar as triggering is possible in some features, like approaching or moving between pitches on ice climbs. Be cautious in steep terrain if you find yourself standing on the surface and not wallowing in facets, that's the problem slab.
No road patrol today
Minor sloughing in steep alpine terrain and a small pocket of windslab from cornice trigger being reported on Dec 23 .
5cm of new snow sits on a weak Melt-Freeze crust below 1900m on solar aspects. The snowpack is 45-80cm deep and is weak and facetted. Previous strong winds have stripped exposed alpine and tree-line terrain, creating hard wind slabs in cross-loaded and lee features. Basal weaknesses are a combo of large facets and chains of depth hoar.
An Ice Climbing Conditions report is available here.
The Mountain Weather Forecast is available at Avalanche Canada https://avalanche.ca/weather/forecast
Sunday in the Icefields
Sunny with cloudy periods. Alpine temperature High of -9 °C with ridgetop wind southwest 10 km/h.
Monday
Cloudy with sunny periods and isolated flurries. Trace amounts of precipitation. Alpine temperature: Low -13 °C, High -8 °C with ridgetop wind southwest: 15 km/h.
