Avalanche forecast

Jasper

Apr 11 – 12, 2018Parks Canada
View on map
Archived · expired 8 years ago

Avalanche danger

Fri
Sat
Alpine
2 · Moderate
Treeline
2 · Moderate
Below
2 · Moderate
Open full map

Highlights

Good skiing can be found close to treeline on sheltered north facing terrain. Evaluate specific terrain features before committing as we are in a low probability high consequence situation.

Avalanche problems

  • Wind Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible
    Size
    1–1.5
    Moderate southerly winds in the alpine continue to build pockets of wind slab. Once triggered, these slabs may trigger deeper releases running far into the valley.

  • Persistent Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible
    Size
    2–3
    Persistent slabs sitting on facets on Northerly aspects continue to show isolated signs of reactivity. Triggering may occur from shallow snowpack areas some distance out.

  • Loose Wet

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible
    Size
    1–1.5
    The snowpack in shallow spots requires very little in the way of ambient heat to weaken it to point of triggering. Solar radiation speeds up this process dramatically.

Weather Forecast

Thursday will be mainly cloudy with isolated flurries, trace precipitation, High -3 C, wind southwest:10-25 km/h, freezing level 1900 metres. Friday will be flurries and 9 cm of snow, low -11 C and high -5 C, wind southwest  20 km/h gusting to 50 km/h, freezing level 1600 metres. Saturday will bring sun and flurries, low -6 C and high -3 C.

Snowpack Summary

Wind slabs and wind effect found in all open areas treeline and above. The upper snowpack is a 25 to 80 cm thick slab that sits on three weak FC crust layers in the mid-pack. Depth hoar persists near the ground.

Avalanche Summary

No patrol Wednesday. Skiers released a cornice to test Ulr / terminator chute #5 today and released a healthy size 2 avalanche. This is a steep N facing chute dropping into Whistler creek drainage from the backside of Marmot basin.

Confidence

Timing or intensity of solar radiation is uncertain

Regions covered