Avalanche forecast

Kananaskis

Feb 18 – 19, 2018Alberta Parks
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Archived · expired 9 years ago

Avalanche danger

Tue
Wed
Alpine
3 · Considerable
Treeline
3 · Considerable
Below
2 · Moderate
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Highlights

Some areas have extensive windslabs down into treeline while in some areas there is less affect.  Forecasters are still avoid large overhead features that havent released.

Avalanche problems

  • Wind Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible - Likely
    Size
    1–2.5
    Widepsread windslabs in Alpine terrain and more variable at treeline locations.  Some areas there has been winds well down into the timber and others not so much.

  • Persistent Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible - Likely
    Size
    1.5–3
    Hard and sudden planar results are being observed on this layer down in general 120cm.  Its getting harder to trigger but will result in large avalanches.

  • Deep Persistent Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Unlikely - Possible
    Size
    2–3.5
    Recent avalanche activity has shown the potential for avalanches to step down to this layer.

Confidence

Moderate -

Weather Forecast

Cold temps, light northerly winds and no new precip is the theme for the next few days!  Be on slopes with a solar aspect to make the day more enjoyable!  -26's are a theme for the next few days.

Avalanche Summary

No new avalanche activity was observed.

Snowpack Summary

5-10cm of recent snow is overlying windslabs in some areas that are up to 30cm thick.  These windslabs seem to be very variable in terms of extent and location.  On Saturday only minimal slabs were encountered at treeline and then on Sunday in the Heros Bowl area, windslabs well down into treeline caused forecasters to turn around.  Where these slabs are being observed they are failing in the easy to moderate range down 20-40cm.  Deeper in the snowpack the December and January layers can still be found.  Hard results in snowpack tests that are sudden planar in nature indicate that this layer may be getting harder to trigger, but if it goes it will be a large avalanche.  In general these layers are down 100-140cm so be curious and dig and examine.

Regions covered