Regions
Banff Yoho Kootenay.
New snow has improved alpine ski conditions. Skiing at treeline and below remains "challenging" due to the breakable crust.SH
Weather Forecast
Light gusting moderate alpine Westerly winds on Sunday with a few cm of snow starting in the afternoon. Alpine temperatures will stay in the -10C range over the next 3 days. Monday and Tuesday look unsettled with 10-20cm in the forecast by Tuesday night. Keep your fingers crossed.
Snowpack Summary
5-15cm low density snow in the last 24hours. Isolated soft slabs 15-30cm thick and of little consequence found in alpine regions today(Cirque Peak, Bow Peak ).The Jan.30 crust formed last week can be found up to 2300m(higher on solar aspects). Basal depth hoar is still a major layer in the region, and is giving moderate to hard compression results.
Avalanche Summary
Some minor sloughing of the new snow out of cliffed terrain, triggered by sun. No new avalanches observed.
Problems
Deep Persistent Slabs
Deep Persistent Slab avalanches are the release of a thick cohesive layer of hard snow (a slab), when the bond breaks between the slab and an underlying persistent weak layer deep in the snowpack. The most common persistent weak layers involved in deep, persistent slabs are depth hoar or facets surrounding a deeply buried crust. Deep Persistent Slabs are typically hard to trigger, are very destructive and dangerous due to the large mass of snow involved, and can persist for months once developed. They are often triggered from areas where the snow is shallow and weak, and are particularly difficult to forecast for and manage.