Avalanche Forecast
Regions: Banff Yoho Kootenay.
Weather Forecast
A warmup is expected starting Saturday with alpine temps in the -3 to 5C range on the Eastern end of the range. Increasing Westerly winds will accompany this and we could see alpine elevation gusts in the 50-80kmh range by the evening with a couple cm of snow. It looks warm through the coming weekend.
Snowpack Summary
30cm snow has fallen over the past week with limited wind effect except near ridge crests. There is now a total of 30-50 cm overlying the Dec.15 persistent weak layer of facets and some surface hoar which is becoming reactive at treeline and above. This layer is producing easy to moderate sudden collapse results. Click for an example from today.
Avalanche Summary
A solo backcountry skier triggered a size 2 avalanche on Richardson's Ridge yesterday outside the Lake Louise Ski Resort boundary - this was a treeline area with a shallow snowpack. As well, numerous small windslabs were observed to have run over the past 48 hours and there has been plenty of settlements being reported at treeline and above.
Confidence
Avalanche Problems
Persistent Slabs
Aspects: All aspects.
Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.
Likelihood: Possible - Likely
Expected Size: 1 - 3
Wind Slabs
Aspects: All aspects.
Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.
Likelihood: Possible - Likely
Expected Size: 1 - 2