Avalanche Forecast

Issued: Dec 10th, 2020 4:00PM

The alpine rating is moderate, the treeline rating is low, and the below treeline rating is low. Known problems include Loose Dry and Wind Slabs.

Adam Greenberg,

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Increasing winds on sunday will transition us from a dry loose to windslab problem. Keep an eye on what the weather is doing, and feel for stiffening snow as you travel through terrain. Skiing is still marginal at lower elevations.

Summary

Weather Forecast

Friday: Mainly cloudy, trace precipitation. Light E winds with an alpine high of -7, low -12

Saturday: Very similar to Friday, with a clearing and cooling trend in the evening.

Sunday: Increasing winds from the southwest up to 50km/h at ridgetop. Temperatures remaining in the -8 to -12 range.

Snowpack Summary

In the Cameron lake area, 10-20cm of pristine low density storm snow sits on a newly formed crust. This overlies a well consolidated midpack above the 2020-11-05 ice crust that forms the bottom of the snowpack. Treeline snow depth in the Cameron lake area just over 1m with amounts tapering quickly at lower elevations and in other areas of the park.

Avalanche Summary

Several loose dry avalanches big enough to sweep you off your feet and into any obstacles were observed on steep slopes on all aspects thursday. These were running on the newly formed December 10 crust.

Confidence

Problems

Loose Dry

An icon showing Loose Dry

Loose surface snow will slide easily on the newly formed December 9 crust, especially on steep smooth slopes (think fans below cliffs, alpine bowls, steep gully features like Akamina Lake Chutes). Many of these have already released naturally.

  • Be aware of party members below you that may be exposed to your sluffs.

Aspects: All aspects.

Elevations: All elevations.

Likelihood

Likely

Expected Size

1 - 1.5

Wind Slabs

An icon showing Wind Slabs

Increasing southwest winds on Sunday will blow the recent storm snow into wind slabs. Keep an eye on conditions as you enter wind affected terrain, things could change quickly over the course of the day.

  • Watch for shooting cracks or stiffer feeling snow. Avoid areas that appear wind loaded.
  • Use caution in lee areas. Wind loading could create slabs.

Aspects: North, North East, East, South East.

Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.

Likelihood

Possible - Likely

Expected Size

1 - 2

Valid until: Dec 13th, 2020 4:00PM