Avalanche Forecast
Regions: Waterton Lakes.
Excellent alpine skiing in the area at the moment with up to 40cm of new snow. The new snow is hiding hazards such as previous wind slabs and rocks.
Weather Forecast
Tues: Sun, Cloud and flurries. Alpine -7. Light to moderate NE wind. Freeze levels 1400m.
Wed: Same forecast as Tuesday.
Thurs: Sun cloud and flurries. Freeze level 1700m
Avalanche Canada's Mountain Weather Forecast is a great regional-scale resource for up-to-date weather information. SPOTWX is a good resource for local scale weather forecasts.
Snowpack Summary
Up to 40cm of recent low density snow at treeline and above with minimal wind effect. This sits on a supportive crust that exists to ridgetop except on high north faces. Overall a well consolidated snowpack with the lower half composed of dense facets and decomposing crusts, which haven't produced test results or recent avalanches.
Avalanche Summary
No new slab avalanches reported or observed. A couple loose dry avalanches (Size 1) out of the steep cliffy terrain on Mount Blakiston were directly observed on Monday.
Please consider submitting a MIN report if you see an avalanches.
Confidence
Freezing levels are uncertain on Thursday
Avalanche Problems
Wind Slabs
Isolated pockets of windslab (now buried by up to 25cm of low density snow) were noted at higher elevation lee terrain that may be reactive to skier traffic. If the winds pick up there is a lot of new snow available for transport.
Aspects: North, North East, East, North West.
Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.
Likelihood: Unlikely - Possible
Expected Size: 1 - 2
Loose Dry
Recent low density snow has produced numerous small loose dry avalanches in steep terrain.
- Be careful of loose dry sluffing in steep, confined or exposed terrain.
Aspects: All aspects.
Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.
Likelihood: Likely
Expected Size: 1 - 1.5