Kananaskis

As the temperatures begin to cool off on Thursday expect widespread crusts up to 2300m. Evaluate the quality of the freeze overnight. Strong winds have also created windslabs in alpine and treeline areas.

A few windslabs on N and E aspects up to sz 2 were observed in the northern areas within Kananaskis at 2700m in elevation. There were also loose wet avalanche in the Kananaskis valley areas that ran to the valley floor in popular ice climbing areas such as King Creek.

On Wednesday there was moist snow up to 2400m and above this elevation on more solar aspects. Winds were strong to extreme scouring the surface down to bare rock in many areas and building hard windslabs in the lee. Below 2100m a layer of surface hoar is down 50cm that may be a concern in isolated steep below treeline areas.

Overall the snowpack is settling rapidly with the warm temps which will benefit us in the long term as it helps strengthen the snowpack overlying the wea. For now though, the quality of the freeze overnight will have a big influence on stability. Expect widespread surface crusts that have developed with the warm temps and will likely make skiing challenging.

Cooler temperatures move in tomorrow with a freezing level forecast for around 1300m. No new snow is forecast and winds will continue to be moderate out of the SW.

https://hpfx.collab.science.gc.ca/~fsg006/productviewer/ab/table/AB_Rockies_Forecast.html

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

• Be careful as you transition into wind-affected terrain.
• Back off slopes as the surface becomes moist or wet with rising temperatures.
• Avoid steep terrain, including convex rolls, or areas with a thin, rocky, or variable snowpack.