Mt Field, Mt Stephen, Mt Cathedral and Mt Dennis (in Yoho Park) and Mt Hector (in Banff Park) are closed for avalanche control on Saturday. Please no climbing or skiing in these areas.
Human triggered avalanches remain very likely. Avoid all avalanche terrain including exposure to avalanche terrain from above.
Up to 90 cm of snow overlies the Feb. 3rd crust/facet combination. Numerous natural & skier-triggered avalanches have occurred on this interface. Wide propagations and remote triggering are likely on this layer. Stay clear of avalanche terrain.
Up to 70cm of recent snow has formed reactive wind and storm slabs. Recent avalanches have stepped down to deeper layers resulting in large avalanches on the Feb 3 crust, or even bigger avalanches stepping down to weak facets near the ground.
Some of the recent avalanches are stepping down to the basal layers near the ground. This seems to be most common in thin, steep, rocky terrain in the alpine. Recent loading has made this layer more sensitive.
Natural and explosive triggered avalanches up to size 3 continue throughout the area. Road avalanche control over the past three days have produced size 2-3 avalanches with crowns 40-100 cm deep.
Human triggered avalanches will remain likely to very likely through the weekend.
There has been 50-70 cm of storm snow since Feb 23. Strong winds during the storm have produced wide-spread wind slabs in alpine and treeline elevations. The Feb 3 crust is down 70-100cm and exists up to 2500m. Most avalanches observed in last week have been running on this layer. In thin areas, the base of the snowpack is weaker then the more settled deeper areas.
Average snowpack depths at treeline range from 110 cm in thinner eastern areas to 180 cm in thicker western areas.
The main storm is over, but unsettled conditions with light snow accumulations will persist through the weekend. Ridgetop winds will be in the light to moderate range from the south and southeast on Saturday.
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