We were seeing some small avalanche activity associated with the new snow and wind on Saturday. It might show up in high couloirs for a day or two still. Watch for outbreaks of sun. It's getting rugged accessing the alpine.
Weather Forecast
A mix of everything, but a lot of nothing. Beware sudden outbursts of sun, or lee ridgecrests where some windslabs may still be present(N and E).
Snowpack Summary
Up to 15cm recent snow at upper elevations. Melt-freeze crusts are common. On North and East aspects in the alpine, up to 30cm of unconsolidated snow can be found. Below this, a stiff slab overlying weak facets remains a concern in some places and a weak, faceted snowpack, remains a concern in thin areas.
Avalanche Summary
Small slabs and loose dry avalanches were noted up the Icefields Parkway pouring off steep rocky areas to size 1.5. Similarly sized wet avalanches were noted In Yoho.
Problems
Persistent Slabs
Persistent Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer of snow (a slab) in the middle to upper snowpack, when the bond to an underlying persistent weak layer breaks. Persistent layers include: surface hoar, depth hoar, near-surface facets, or faceted snow. Persistent weak layers can continue to produce avalanches for days, weeks or even months, making them especially dangerous and tricky. As additional snow and wind events build a thicker slab on top of the persistent weak layer, this avalanche problem may develop into a Deep Persistent Slab.
Loose Wet
Loose Wet avalanches are the release of wet unconsolidated snow or slush. These avalanches typically occur within layers of wet snow near the surface of the snowpack, but they may quickly gouge into lower snowpack layers. Like Loose Dry Avalanches, they start at a point and entrain snow as they move downhill, forming a fan-shaped avalanche. Other names for loose-wet avalanches include point-release avalanches or sluffs. Loose Wet avalanches can trigger slab avalanches that break into deeper snow layers.