Kananaskis

Good quality skiing in sheltered areas, but watch for surface wind slabs as well as persistent slabs on the Nov crust. These both could be triggered in steeper and/or wind affected terrain.

Tuesday will see winds steadily increasing through the day, eventually reaching up to 100km/h from the SW by mid-afternoon. There is a possibility of very light flurries later in the day. Temperatures should reach -4C at 2200m. Most weather models are calling for 10cm of snow to fall on Wednesday.

Nothing new today, but there is evidence of small loose dry avalanches and some cornice failures triggering slabs on the underlying slopes. Generally speaking all of this activity has been size 1.5 or smaller, but there could be bigger events out there. 

Snow profiles today in the Burstall Pass region indicate significant faceting above the Nov crust layer. The crust is buried 50 to 80cm deep and is producing moderate to hard compression test failures. In wind prone areas such as gullies and the lee side of ridges surface wind slabs 10 to 20cm thick have been observed. Some cornice growth, and a few failures, have been observed in recent days. Overall the snowpack carries fairly well once above 2000m, but it is still relatively shallow with lots of slightly hidden hazards (rocks, stumps, etc.) lurking beneath.

• Avoid shallow, rocky areas where the snowpack transitions from thick to thin.
• Be careful with wind loaded pockets, especially near ridge crests and roll-overs.
• Approach lee and cross-loaded slopes with caution.