Avalanche forecast

Kananaskis

Apr 13 – 14, 2025Avalanche Canada
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Avalanche danger

Tue
Wed
Alpine
2 · Moderate
Treeline
2 · Moderate
Below
1 · Low
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Highlights

Excellent skiing can be found on high polar aspects. Start early, end early. Day time warming will deteriorate the snowpack.

Avalanche problems

  • Persistent Slabs

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

    Watch for sheltered northern areas where this layer may still exist.

  • Loose Dry

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible - Likely
    Size
    1–2

    Sluffing in steep terrain on polar aspects

  • Loose Wet

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Likely
    Size
    1–2

    Loose wet activity will increase with day time warming and solar input.

Confidence

High

Avalanche Summary

Loose dry storm snow from steep terrain was sluffing off naturally, especially when the sun hit the rocky faces.

Solar aspects loose wet were also easily triggered by ski traffic walking along a solar ridge, no natural solar avalanches observed at time of writing.

Snowpack Summary

15-30cm of new low density snow is now overlying previous layers including buried windslabs, sun crusts on solar aspects and temperature crusts on all aspects up to 2300m. This was bonding well to previous layers. There were some isolated pockets of old windslabs but they weren't reactive in our travels. Forecasters were able to ski some steeper lines today and sluffing was running easily but not gaining much mass. Solar aspect loose wet were also easy to start and again not running that far or gaining much mass yet. Solar aspects to 2500m got cooked by the sun today.

Weather Summary

Sunday was awesome. Blue skies, new snow and more confidence in the snowpack. Anywhere between 15-30cm of storm snow fell in the last 24 hours.

Monday: A mix of sun and cloud. No precip expected. Light winds out of the West.

Day time high of -1.

Freezing levels to rise to 2400m

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • Even brief periods of direct sun could produce natural avalanches.
  • Avoid shallow snowpack areas, rocky outcrops, and steep terrain where triggering is most likely.
  • Wind slabs are isolated, but may remain reactive.

Regions covered