Avalanche Forecast

Issued: Feb 2nd, 2019 4:00PM

The alpine rating is considerable, the treeline rating is considerable, and the below treeline rating is considerable. Known problems include Storm Slabs and Deep Persistent Slabs.

stephen holeczi, Parks Canada

Little Yoho.

Great ski quality in sheltered areas. Give the new snow time to settle before committing to bigger terrain features with consequence.

Summary

Weather Forecast

Arctic air has moved in and temperatures will see lows to -30C and highs around -20C for the next few days. Winds have switched to the NE and will become light on Sunday. Only trace amounts of new snow are in the forecast.

Snowpack Summary

30-40cm of new snow with moderate to strong variable winds are building slabs in lee areas of the alpine. In locations up to 2200m a thin but reactive layer of surface hoar and/or crust is found down 60-70cm. The mid and lower snowpack have few weaknesses, however concern remains for the weak facets below the Dec 10 interface in shallow areas.

Avalanche Summary

Skied were obscured all day Saturday in the Little Yoho area so no observations were made.

Confidence

Problems

Storm Slabs

Expect storm slabs to be reactive in the short term on many aspects. Especially watch areas where the buried Jan. 17th surface hoar and/or crust layer is present . This has been found below 2200m and where found, was reactive before this last storm.

Aspects: All aspects.

Elevations: All elevations.

Likelihood

Possible - Likely

Expected Size

1 - 2.5

Deep Persistent Slabs

In isolated shallow snowpack areas of Little Yoho the new snow load may wake up the deep persistent facet weakness.

Use conservative route selection, choose moderate angled and supported terrain with low consequence.Avoid thin, rocky or unsupported slopes.

Aspects: All aspects.

Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.

Likelihood

Unlikely - Possible

Expected Size

2 - 3

Valid until: Feb 3rd, 2019 4:00PM