Avalanche forecast

Kananaskis

Feb 9 – 10, 2020Avalanche Canada
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Archived · expired 7 years ago

Avalanche danger

Tue
Wed
Alpine
3 · Considerable
Treeline
2 · Moderate
Below
1 · Low

Highlights

Good skiing at treeline and below right now. The alpine looks more crossloaded and wind affected. Tread carefully at the treeline/alpine transition.

Avalanche problems

  • Wind Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Likely
    Size
    1.5–2.5

    Winds overnight will be variable so expect new slabs on almost all aspects. Buried slabs are on all easterly aspects and in many places there are multiple layers.

  • Deep Persistent Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible
    Size
    2–3.5

    Large triggers are a concern. Cornices, or other avalanches could wake this layer up. 

Confidence

High -

Weather Forecast

Overnight low of -21, rising to -10 by 2pm. No new snow, maybe a few flurries, but nothing too exciting. The winds will be light from the SW down low and strong (80km/hr) from the NW at mountain top. 

Avalanche Summary

One cornice fall was witnessed today around noon. It triggered a sz2 loose dry snow avalanche that traveled quite far. It didn't initiate a slab.

Snowpack Summary

5-10 new in the last 24 hours. Not much for wind affect up to 2300m. Above that light winds were blowing some snow around, but not much for new loading. Having said that, there are fresh cornices out there that appear to be delicate. Buried windslabs exist in crossloaded features at treeline. A failure between layers was noted down 50cm. The mid pack is hanging in there and feels supportive in most areas, but the very bottom of the snowpack is still weak and suspect. The rain crust is making for easy travel up to 1950-2000m.

Terrain and Travel

  • Conditions may have improved, but be mindful that deep instabilities are still present.

Regions covered