Avalanche Forecast

Issued: Jan 31st, 2017 4:50PM

The alpine rating is moderate, the treeline rating is low, and the below treeline rating is low. Known problems include Wind Slabs.

Avalanche Canada swerner, Avalanche Canada

Watch for lingering wind slabs that may be reactive to rider triggers.

Summary

Confidence

High - The weather pattern is stable

Weather Forecast

The high pressure continues, resulting in a fairly benign pattern until Friday.Wednesday/ Thursday: Mostly sunny with alpine temperatures near -12. Ridgetop winds will be light from the northeast. Friday: Cloudy with snow amounts 5-10 cm. Alpine high of -4 and ridgetop winds light-gusting strong from the southwest.

Avalanche Summary

On Monday, isolated wind slabs up to size 1 were triggered by the weight of a rider. Wind slabs may continue to be reactive in the lee of exposed terrain.

Snowpack Summary

Strong winds and up to 15 cm of recent snow over the weekend have formed fresh reactive wind slabs in the lee of exposed terrain. The new snow sits above a thin breakable sun crust and isolated pockets of buried surface hoar. Some recent snowpack tests have shown hard, yet sudden planar results on the mid-January interface (facets) buried approximately 45 cm down. A total of 60-120 cm of settled storm snow now forms the upper snowpack and is generally bonded to a crust below. The exception may be thin rocky areas. The mid and lower snowpack are generally well settled, but still feature a number of facet and crust layers that warrant long term monitoring.

Problems

Wind Slabs

An icon showing Wind Slabs
With recent switching winds all aspects may have pockets of wind slab on exposed features near ridge crests and cross-loaded gullies.
Avoid steep convexities or areas with a thin or variable snowpack.Use ridges or ribs to avoid pockets of wind loaded snow.Avoid exposure to terrain traps where the consequences of a small avalanche could be serious.

Aspects: All aspects.

Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.

Likelihood

Possible

Expected Size

1 - 2

Valid until: Feb 1st, 2017 2:00PM