Avalanche Forecast
Regions: Brazeau, Churchill, Cirrus-Wilson, Fryatt, Icefields, Jasper, Maligne, Marmot, Miette Lake, Pyramid.
Spring is on hold for a few days with cooler temperatures and incoming snow making it feel more like winter.
Watch for variable wind loading as the winds switch from SW to North.
Forecasted snowfall amounts vary from 2cm to 13cm.
Carefully assess how well the new snow is bonding to old hard surfaces.
Confidence
Moderate
Avalanche Summary
No new avalanches were observed or reported on Monday.
A loose dry size one was reported on Sunday in the Icefields area as well as serac falls off of Kitchener and snowdome.
Neighbouring forecast areas reported numerous dry loose and wet loose avalanches to size 1.5 from the heat and sun over the weekend. Cornice failures have also been observed producing avalanches stepping down to deeper layers or even to ground.
Snowpack Summary
The weekend heat has formed a crust to 2600m on all aspects and up to mountain top on solar slopes. Solar slopes at treeline and below have a plethora of crusts in the upper snow pack.
On shaded slopes 10-20cm of recent snow has been redistributed by South to SW winds forming windslabs in the alpine. The Feb 3 PWL is down 40-100cm and remains a concern on shaded aspects and shallow areas, above 2400m.
The basal depth hoar/facets are gaining strength in deeper snowpack areas.
Weather Summary
Mountain Weather Forecast is available at Avalanche Canada
Monday Evening
Flurries with up to 13 cm. Alpine low -8 °C. Ridge winds from east 10-30 km/h. Freezing level valley bottom.
Tuesday
A mix of sun & cloud with isolated flurries. Alpine high of -7 °C. Northeast ridge wind 20 km/h gusting to 45 km/h. Freezing level valley bottom
Wednesday
A mix of sun & cloud. Alpine high -9 °C. North ridge winds 15-30 km/h
Terrain and Travel Advice
- Closely monitor how the new snow is bonding to the crust.
- Avoid shallow, rocky areas where the snowpack transitions from thick to thin.
- Watch for wind-loaded pockets especially around ridgecrest and in extreme terrain.
Avalanche Problems
Wind Slabs
Moderate to strong winds have formed wind slabs on previous hard surfaces (sun crusts and old wind slabs).
Aspects: All aspects.
Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.
Likelihood: Possible
Expected Size: 1 - 2
Persistent Slabs
This problem seems to be most active where the March 19th crust is not supportive over the Feb 3rd weak layer (down 30-90cm) of facets over a crust. This problem remains a concern on shaded aspects above 2400m.
Aspects: North, North East, East, South East, North West.
Elevations: Alpine.
Likelihood: Unlikely - Possible
Expected Size: 1.5 - 3.5
Loose Dry
Incoming new snow will have a good sliding surface on recent crusts.
Aspects: All aspects.
Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.
Likelihood: Possible
Expected Size: 1 - 1.5