Avalanche forecast

Banff Yoho Kootenay

Mar 6 – 7, 2015Parks Canada
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Archived · expired 12 years ago

Avalanche danger

Fri
Sat
Alpine
1 · Low
Treeline
1 · Low
Below
1 · Low
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Highlights

Travel and climbing conditions are excellent for ice and big alpine ascents.  Ski conditions rermain challenging with breakable surface crusts or thin windslab.

Avalanche problems

  • Deep Persistent Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Unlikely
    Size
    2–3
    The lower half of the snowpack is weak due to the presence of basal facets and depth hoar. Natural and human triggering is unlikely as the weak layer is dormant, but it is still a good practice to avoid steep, open, rocky slopes with shallow snow.

Weather Forecast

Cloud and very light flurries are forecasted for the next several days.  Winds will be generally light from the West with gusts up to 70 km/hr.  Temperatures will be warmer than they have been, but still in the minus single digits.  There are no significant inputs expected to affect the avalanche hazard.

Snowpack Summary

Despite the presence of weak facets and depth hoar near the ground, the weak layers in the snowpack are largely dormant right now. This is a result of past warming and rain, recent cold temperatures and no significant snow for several weeks. Once the temperatures warm up significantly and/or new snow arrives then the weak layers will re-activate.

Avalanche Summary

No new avalanches reported or observed today.

Confidence

Regions covered