Pay close attention to the amount of cloud cover and winds. If the sun comes out and/or winds decrease expect avalanche danger to trend towards HIGH. Early starts and early finishes are crucial. Lots of Natural slides recently.
Summary
Confidence
Moderate - Timing or intensity of solar radiation is uncertain on Saturday
Weather Forecast
Winds are forecast to increase on Saturday with a bit more cloud cover. This will help to keep the snowpack slightly cooler and hold it together a bit longer. The freezing level is still forecast to be around 2500m so if the sun comes out of the wind dies down, the snowpack can again rapidly change and head into HIGH. On friday the temperatures climbed 10deg in two hours so its important to note that when the sun comes out, stability will decrease quickly.
Avalanche Summary
Numerous loose wet avalanches on all aspects except pure north in the Alpine. A new slabs likely caused by the hear were also observed on E through W aspects up to sz 2.5.
Snowpack Summary
Widespread crusts can be found on all aspects except for true north above 2400m. These crusts on south aspects are up to 20cm thick and fully supportive. In travels on Friday, forecasters did not note any locations where the crust did not support the weight of a skier. As temperatures warm up during the day, these crusts are breaking down, loose wet avalanches begin to occur and as the heat penetrates deeper into the snowpack, deep slab avalanches become likely. There is a brief window between the two wherein there is good corn snow skiing but your timing has ton be bang on.
mike.koppang,
Alberta Parks
