Avalanche Forecast
Regions: Bow Valley, Highwood Pass, Kananaskis, North 40, Spray - KLakes.
Spring Conditions means avalanche danger may be variable and can easily range from Low to High throughout the day. Check out https://avalanche.ca/spring-conditions for ways to manage the different Spring Conditions scenarios. Also pay attention to short lived storms (such as the forecast for heavy snow on Apr30/May 1) that could produce wind slabs and/or storm slabs for relatively brief periods of time.
Confidence
High
Snowpack Summary
In most areas, a melt-freeze crust exists on all aspects. This crust is supportive and locks down all basal weaknesses when it is frozen. This crust will tend to break down with solar radiation, daytime heating or a cloudy night without a freeze. Once this occurs, the basal facets can be more easily triggered by the weight of a skier, a cornice or a wet avalanche from daytime heating. It will be important to monitor the crust and adjust your trip accordingly. Convective Spring flurries with significant amounts of snow is not uncommon and difficult to forecast. In a nutshell, the avalanche hazard rating can vary dramatically from day to day and also hour to hour. Usually, an early start and early finish is a good way to go. Check out "Spring Conditions" write up at: :Â https://avalanche.ca/spring-conditions
Weather Summary
The transition to Spring continues, however pay attention to the occasional intense convective flurries. Several weather models are predicting significant snowfall amounts for Apr 29 through May 1.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
Avalanche Problems
Deep Persistent Slabs
This will be a concern when the crust breaks down.
Aspects: All aspects.
Elevations: Alpine.
Likelihood: Unlikely - Possible
Expected Size: 1 - 2