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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Jan 20th, 2023–Jan 23rd, 2023

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

Regions

North 40.

Watch for pockets of wind affected snow that if triggerred will likely fail to ground. This area has lower snow coverage as compared to the Spray/Smith Dorrien area.

Confidence

High

Avalanche Summary

No new avalanches were observed or reported on Friday.

Snowpack Summary

The front ranges within the Kananaskis valley are very dry for this time of year. The main concern is pockets of hard slabs in alpine terrain that if triggerred will likely fail to ground. Lots of bare rock is exposed and thin weak areas surrounding the lens of hard slabs should be avoided.

Weather Summary

Saturday will see North winds becomming more westerly later in the day and temperatures in the -4C range throughout the day under partly cloudy skies. No snow is forecast for this area until Sunday where up to 4 cm will fall.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • Avoid shallow, rocky areas where the snowpack transitions from thick to thin.
  • Small avalanches may cause climbers to fall or belayers and gear to become buried.
  • Ice climbers should be equipped with avalanche safety gear.

Problems

Deep Persistent Slabs

Deep Persistent Slab avalanches are the release of a thick cohesive layer of hard snow (a slab), when the bond breaks between the slab and an underlying persistent weak layer deep in the snowpack. The most common persistent weak layers involved in deep, persistent slabs are depth hoar or facets surrounding a deeply buried crust. Deep Persistent Slabs are typically hard to trigger, are very destructive and dangerous due to the large mass of snow involved, and can persist for months once developed. They are often triggered from areas where the snow is shallow and weak, and are particularly difficult to forecast for and manage.