Avalanche Forecast
Regions: Banff, Banff Yoho Kootenay, East Side 93N, Field, Kootenay, LLSA, Lake Louise, Little Yoho, Sunshine, West Side 93N.
The upper snowpack is becoming more supportive, allowing for better travel. Bear in mind that this supportive upper snowpack is a slab overlaying weak, very unsupportive, faceted snow. This structure is not to be trusted.
Stick to low-consequence terrain.
Confidence
Moderate
Avalanche Summary
No new avalanche activity was observed today. Friday, Lake Louise patrol triggered wind slabs to size 1.5 on immediate alpine lee slopes.
Snowpack Summary
10cm overlays a surface hoar /crust layer which is sporadic in the region. The Dec 17 surface hoar/sun crust layer is down 25-50cm, and generally not reactive. The Nov. 16 deep persistent layer is down 40-90cm and continues to produce sudden failures in snowpack tests. In Little Yoho, these two layers are deeper and more spread apart in the snowpack.
Weather Summary
A cold front moving in Saturday evening will bring up to 5cm of snow accumulation to the region. Clearing will begin Sunday as another ridge builds. Moderate ridge winds will remain till the end of the weekend.
Terrain and Travel Advice
- Uncertainty is best managed through conservative terrain choices at this time.
Avalanche Problems
Deep Persistent Slabs
The lower snowpack is comprised of weak facets and depth hoar with the upper snowpack forming a 40 to 90cm thick slab above. This weak basal layer is uniform across most of the forecast region and has been responsible for most of the avalanche activity to date this season.
Aspects: All aspects.
Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.
Likelihood: Possible
Expected Size: 1 - 2.5
Wind Slabs
Previous moderate to strong winds have formed isolated winds slabs on immediate lee slopes in the alpine.
Aspects: North, North East, East, South East.
Elevations: Alpine.
Likelihood: Possible
Expected Size: 1 - 1.5