Jasper

Building windslabs and irregular reactivity on deep instabilities is dampening our overall confidence in the snowpack, stay attentive to changes in slab consistency; underfoot, and in overhead terrain!

A little precip. and more reasonable winter temps expected into the weekend before we move back into another cold, high pressure.

Friday: Sunny with cloudy periods. Temp: High -21 C. Light ridge wind.

Saturday: Cloudy with sunny periods and isolated flurries. Trace of new. Low -29 C, High -21 C. Wind SW: 20 km/h. Alpine temperature inversion.

Cold temps are penetrating deep into the upper snowpack, promoting widespread faceting. Pockets of wind slab are present on all aspects, tree line and above. The mid-pack is supportive with the Dec 1 interface down ~40 cm in most locations. Basal faceting continues below the Nov 5 crust potentially amplifying the deep persistent slab problem.

Minimal natural activity observed on patrol. A large avalanche was seen mid-week in steep, shallow and rocky terrain. View min report here.

There has been inconsistence natural activity on the Nov 5 basal layer. When triggered, the slides are large and destructive. It's not yet open season, remain cautious and analytical when choosing your line.