Avalanche forecast

South Rockies

Dec 28 – 29, 2013Avalanche Canada
View on map
Archived · expired 13 years ago

Avalanche danger

Mon
Tue
Alpine
2 · Moderate
Treeline
2 · Moderate
Below
1 · Low
Open full map

Highlights

Check out our South Rockies Blog for more up-to-date information.

Avalanche problems

  • Wind Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible
    Size
    1–2
    Recent strong winds have redistributed new storm snow into pockets of wind slab at many elevations. Wind slabs may be gaining strength, but triggering is still possible in unsupported terrain.

  • Persistent Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible
    Size
    1–4
    A recent skier-triggered size 2 avalanche in the Harvey Pass area indicates persistent weaknesses buried at the end of November have become active. The variable nature of this instability requires an investigative approach for safe mountain travel.

Avalanche Summary

On Christmas Eve a backcountry skier triggered a size 2 slab avalanche on an alpine slope in the Harvey Pass area. The slab was reportedly 70cm deep and 150m wide and was thought to have slid on the late-November crust/facet interface. There were no reported injuries with the avalanche.No other avalanches have been reported.

Confidence

Fair - Due to the number of field observations

Weather Forecast

Synopsis: The current pattern seems to be stuck on repeat. The NW flow remains intact with a few embedded disturbances which will bring cloudy skies and isolated flurries but no significant accumulations to the southeast corner of the province.Sunday: Freezing Level: Valley Bottom; Precip: Nil; Wind: Initially light SW switching to Strong NW by Sunday evening.Monday: Freezing Level: Valley Bottom; Precip: Nil Wind: Mod SW Tuesday: Freezing Level: Valley Bottom; Precip: 1/2mm 2/5cm Wind: Mod NW

Snowpack Summary

There appears to be a lot of snowpack variability across the region. Snowpack depths at treeline seem to vary from 60 - 130 cm with high variability in wind-exposed areas. Mostly modest amounts of low density snow have fallen over the last week and have likely been shifted into small wind slabs in exposed areas. Located just below the surface is a layer of weak faceted crystals which formed during the cold snap at the beginning of December. At this point, there does not seem to be enough of an overlying slab to create a widespread problem. In the mid pack is the late-November/early-December interface which is made up of surface hoar, a crust, and/or facets. This layer is typically down 30-70cm and has reached the tipping point for rider triggering in a few areas including the Harvey Pass area. Check out this video of a recent snowpack test on this layer.

Regions covered