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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Apr 5th, 2025–Apr 6th, 2025

Alpine
Natural avalanches possible, human triggered probable.
Treeline
Natural avalanches possible, human triggered probable.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches possible, human triggered probable.
Alpine
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Alpine
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.

Regions

Banff Yoho Kootenay, Banff, East Side 93N, Kootenay, Lake Louise, LLSA, Sunshine, West Side 93N, Field.

Solar radiation will peak Sunday. Start early, and finish early while the hazard is lower.

Areas East of HWY93N and around the Lake Louise ski hill back country have a much thinner snowpack, making it more susceptible to human triggering

Confidence

Moderate

Avalanche Summary

No new activity was observed or reported in this subregion on Saturday.

Snowpack Summary

Surface crusts on solar aspects up to ~2800 m. Up to 30 cm of dry snow on north slopes at higher elevations. On south aspects, this 30cm contains several crusts

Below this, a prominent rain crust (Mar 27) is found everywhere up to at least 2300m. The strength and extent of this crust varies area to area

Below this, a 30-70 cm slab of dense snow overlies another 40-70 cm of weak facets. This is the main problem in the snowpack and is of particular concern when the crusts above it are weak

Weather Summary

Daytime solar radiation is the most important input to the snowpack right now.

Tonight: Clear. Alpine temp: Low -2 °C. Mostly light ridge wind occasionally gusting to 30 km/h. Freezing level at valley bottom. Weak temperature inversion.

Sunday: Sunny. Alpine temps: High 5 °C. Ridge wind light to 25 km/h. Freezing level: Up to 3100 metres on solar aspects.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • Start your day early and be out of avalanche terrain during the heat of the day.
  • Be mindful that deep instabilities are still present and have produced recent large avalanches.
  • The likelihood of deep persistent slab avalanches will increase with each day of warm weather.
  • Avoid steep, sun-exposed slopes when the air temperature is warm or when solar radiation is strong.
  • Avalanche danger will increase as the surface crust breaks down.

Problems

Persistent Slabs

Persistent Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer of snow (a slab) in the middle to upper snowpack, when the bond to an underlying persistent weak layer breaks. Persistent layers include: surface hoar, depth hoar, near-surface facets, or faceted snow. Persistent weak layers can continue to produce avalanches for days, weeks or even months, making them especially dangerous and tricky. As additional snow and wind events build a thicker slab on top of the persistent weak layer, this avalanche problem may develop into a Deep Persistent Slab.

Loose Wet

Loose Wet avalanches are the release of wet unconsolidated snow or slush. These avalanches typically occur within layers of wet snow near the surface of the snowpack, but they may quickly gouge into lower snowpack layers. Like Loose Dry Avalanches, they start at a point and entrain snow as they move downhill, forming a fan-shaped avalanche. Other names for loose-wet avalanches include point-release avalanches or sluffs. Loose Wet avalanches can trigger slab avalanches that break into deeper snow layers.