Dashboard Regions Weather Stations Radar Alerts Glossary
Contact About
Log In

Register for an account and never miss a forecast again!

Register

Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Jan 2nd, 2017–Jan 3rd, 2017

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

Regions

Little Yoho.

Skiing in the deeper snowpack areas is very good right now but watch for a weak faceted mid pack in thinner snow pack areas. Ice climbers should be cautious on the approaches to the Mt Stephen climbs where a slab may sit over this weakness.

Weather Forecast

An arctic ridge of high pressure has arrived and will dominate for the next few days. Dress warm!! Lows of -25 are expected with daytime highs reaching -18 under clear skies with light winds from the north. It looks like the temperatures will start to moderate and rise slowly by Wednesday.

Snowpack Summary

The storm snow from last week has settled and tops a 100-150 cm snowpack at tree line. In areas with a thinner snowpack the mid pack facets exist and are quite weak. In these areas the main issue is wind slabs forming a cohesive slab over the facets with potential for larger propagations. Thicker snowpack areas have few weaknesses in the snowpack.

Avalanche Summary

Two size 2-2.5 natural avalanches in the Corral 1 and 2 paths, and a size 2 natural on Ptarmigan Peak observed Monday outside the Lake Louise ski resort. A recent size 2.5 avalanche was observed on the N side of Mt Burgess as well as a couple smaller slides on the SW aspect of Wapta Peak. All appear to be failing on the weak mid pack facets.

Confidence

Due to the number of field observations

Problems

Wind Slabs

Wind Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer of snow (a slab) formed by the wind. Wind typically transports snow from the upwind sides of terrain features and deposits snow on the downwind side. Wind slabs are often smooth and rounded and sometimes sound hollow, and can range from soft to hard. Wind slabs that form over a persistent weak layer (surface hoar, depth hoar, or near-surface facets) may be termed Persistent Slabs or may develop into Persistent Slabs.

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.