Avalanche Forecast

Issued: Apr 11th, 2022 4:00PM

The alpine rating is low, the treeline rating is low, and the below treeline rating is low. Known problems include Wind Slabs.

Chris Gooliaff,

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Colder air has crept back into the region, locking us into a wintery feeling in the Alpine and crisp morning temps in the valley bottom.

Enjoy the fast travel conditions, but watch for windslabs and loose power sluffing at the top of your line.

Summary

Weather Forecast

Cool temps with freezing levels at valley bottom, a mix of sun and cloud, and E'ly winds for a few days.

Tonight: Mainly clear, Alp low -17*C, light E wind.

Tue: Cloudy with sunny periods, Alp High -12*C, light E wind

Wed: Mix of sun/cloud, Alp low -18*C/high -11*C, light E wind

Thurs: Cloudy with isolated flurries, Alp high -10*C, light E wind

Snowpack Summary

Up high, previous strong SW winds, now mod N'ly winds, redistributed 15cm of new snow into immediate lee features. These soft windslabs sit on a crust on all but N'ly alpine slopes, where settled dry snow is found. Below Treeline the spring snowpack currently has a solid supportive crust. The March 30th melt-freeze crust is buried 30-70cm deep.

Avalanche Summary

No new avalanches have been observed in the highway corridor the last 48hrs, nor by a field team up towards Lookout Col and the Ravens.

Glide cracks continue to widen. Give them the utmost respect, as it is very difficult to forecast when they will fail. When they do finally fail, they have immense destructive power!

Confidence

Problems

Wind Slabs

An icon showing Wind Slabs

New snow and moderate winds Saturday built fresh windslabs in lees. Winds have since shifted to NE'ly and will be reverse-loading Alpine slopes. The windslabs sit on crusts on sun-exposed slopes, while they overlie dry, settled snow on N aspects.

  • Use caution above cliffs and terrain traps where small avalanches may have severe consequences.
  • Variable winds have created pockets of wind slab on all aspects.

Aspects: All aspects.

Elevations: Alpine.

Likelihood

Possible

Expected Size

1 - 2

Valid until: Apr 12th, 2022 4:00PM