Avalanche Forecast

Issued: Dec 29th, 2015 8:00AM

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

Parks Canada danyelle magnan, Parks Canada

Green doesn't always mean go. Small slabs and sluffs are possible. Keep them in mind if you venture into more aggressive terrain, where getting pushed around by a small slide could have serious consequences.

Summary

Weather Forecast

A high pressure system is drawing cold arctic air south. Today should be the coldest day, with temps from -10 to -18, but fortunately winds are expected to be light. Valley cloud should dissipate with lots of sun in the alpine. Wednesday will be similar. By Thursday, temps will start to warm up and alpine winds will increase to moderate N'ly.

Snowpack Summary

Cold temps are slowing the settlement of last weeks snow. 30-40cm of low density snow sits on a well settled mid pack. Moderate S'ly winds over the weekend shifted to N'ly yesterday, windloading the immediate lee of alpine features and creating pockets of very soft wind-slab.

Avalanche Summary

Yesterday, a skier accidentally triggered a size 1.5 avalanche on a W aspect at ~2200m while descending "NRC" on the Macdonald West Shoulder. It was a 20cm deep, very soft wind-slab. 7 size 1.5 to 2 natural avalanches were observed from steep N and S facing paths. There was also a size 2 deep slab avalanche when a glide crack released on a S aspect

Confidence

Problems

Wind Slabs

An icon showing Wind Slabs
Winds have been relatively light, but periods of moderate S through N winds have created pockets of very soft slab along the immediate lee of alpine features. Where they exist, these pockets have been triggered by skiers.
Be careful with wind loaded pockets, especially near ridge crests and roll-overs.Use ridges or ribs to avoid pockets of wind loaded snow.

Aspects: All aspects.

Elevations: Alpine.

Likelihood

Possible

Expected Size

1 - 2

Loose Dry

An icon showing Loose Dry
All that loose, dry snow means great skiing, but expect it to sluff in steep terrain. This could be an issue in steep gullies and terrain traps, where your sluff can accumulate and become deeper.
Be aware of party members below you that may be exposed to your sluffs.On steep slopes, pull over periodically or cut into a new line to manage sluffing.

Aspects: All aspects.

Elevations: All elevations.

Likelihood

Possible

Expected Size

1 - 2

Valid until: Dec 30th, 2015 8:00AM