Avalanche Forecast
Issued: Feb 25th, 2019 8:00AM
The alpine rating is , the treeline rating is , and the below treeline rating is Known problems include Wind Slabs.
chris gooliaff,
Parks Canada
With a generally stable snowpack, caution is still needed. Be aware that small sluffs or thin wind slabs in confined gullies can knock a person off their feet and over cliffs.
Summary
Weather Forecast
Cold and clear. -16*C in the alpine, light to moderate northerly winds, and absolutely no chance of snow today. Cold and clear Tuesday and Wednesday, with similar conditions of light northerly winds, alpine highs in the minus mid-teens, and lots of sun.
Snowpack Summary
15cm of settled snow resides on old wind slabs in the alpine. In sheltered areas the recent snow is covering surface hoar and facets. A crust on steep solar aspects makes for difficult traveling conditions, both uphill and down. The mid and lower snowpack is well settled and strong. Surface faceting is softening old ski tracks.
Avalanche Summary
A size 1.5 skier triggered slab was observed in the Christmas Couloir on the SW side of Ursus Major yesterday. Several small dry point releases were also noted in this vicinity. No avalanches were observed in the highway corridor.
Confidence
Due to the number and quality of field observations
Problems
Wind Slabs
Wind slab in the alpine presently appears to be more of a ski quality issue than an avalanche problem. However given the right location (steep, rocky, thin snowpack feature etc.) it may still be possible to trigger the slab.
Use caution above cliffs where small avalanches may have severe consequences.Avoid thin, rocky or unsupported slopes.
Aspects: All aspects.
Elevations: Alpine.
Likelihood
Expected Size
Valid until: Feb 26th, 2019 8:00AM
