Avalanche forecast

Kananaskis

Nov 1 – 2, 2015Alberta Parks
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Archived · expired 11 years ago

Avalanche danger

Tue
Wed
Alpine
No rating
Treeline
No rating
Below
No rating
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Highlights

First Bulletin of the year!  Ice climbers are encouraged to carry avalanche gear while on routes with overhead hazard.  November 4th was our first avalanche involvement last season and involved ice climbers.  Be sure to evaluate overhead terrain.

Avalanche problems

  • Loose Dry

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible - Likely
    Size
    1–2
    Ice climbers are the group these early season bulletins are most often trying to adddress.  Small slides running over a terrain trap such as a climb or bench can knock a climber down or bury them at the base or in stepped terrain along the route.

Confidence

Poor - Due to the number and quality of field observations

Weather Forecast

Up to another 10-15cm of snow is likely to fall over the next 3 days.  This will add to whats on the ground already in Alpine areas and we may see a few more areas getting close to threshold levels in terms of depth for avalanches to occur.  Right now the biggest concern is to ice climbers who spend time in gullied and steep terrain. 

Avalanche Summary

Observations were limited due to visibility throughout the day but we can suspect there were a few loose dry events occuring at higher elevations in steeper terrain.

Snowpack Summary

Snow is starting to accumulate in Alpine areas as the winter nears.  Above treeline in Alpine areas up to 30cm of snow is on the ground and then with recent winds, there are pockets of snow up to 1m deep in lee areas.  This snow is laying on ...  ground in many areas as the snowpack is not very complex yet and there are not many layers.  Having said that,  The ground can be a problem layer in itself so be sure to keep your hands in the snowpack checking for stiffness in slabs overlying the ground looking for weaknesses.

Regions covered