Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Feb 9th, 2024–Feb 9th, 2024

Alpine

Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.

Treeline

Natural avalanches unlikely.

Below Treeline

Natural avalanches unlikely.

Alpine

Natural avalanches unlikely.

Treeline

Natural avalanches unlikely.

Below Treeline

Natural avalanches unlikely.

Alpine

Natural avalanches unlikely.

Treeline

Natural avalanches unlikely.

Below Treeline

Natural avalanches unlikely.

Regions

Kananaskis, Bow Valley, Highwood Pass, North 40, Spray - KLakes.

From an avalanche and ski quality perspective, things are a solid "meh" to "pretty good" right now. Acceptable skiing can be found up high, but you'll have to earn it by dealing with the valley bottom travel. There is snow available for transport, so watch those winds speeds tomorrow!

Confidence

High

Avalanche Summary

Nothing new today.

Snowpack Summary

The recent storm snow is settling and now averages 10 to 20cm over the Feb 3 crust. By mid afternoon today sun exposed snow was becoming moist, which will form a thin surface crust as it re-freezes tonight. Deeper down, the Feb 3rd crust is mostly supportive in the valley bottom and extends at least as high as 2500m. The bond at the storm snow - crust interface is mainly good, except on steep northerly aspects in the alpine where some previous sluffing was observed. Very isolated wind slab development has also been observed in the alpine in wind prone areas and on lee features. Ski quality is dust on crust in the alpine.

Weather Summary

Overnight Friday will see low temperatures of -15 to -18 with a daytime high of -7 by 4pm. Cloud cover will be intermittent, so expect some solar to sneak in, making it feel warmer. Winds will be out of the SW all day with speeds in the 15-20km range at ridgetop. No snow is expected, but it should be a nice day regardless.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

In areas where deep persistent slabs may exist, avoid shallow or variable depth snowpacks and unsupported terrain features.
Back off if you encounter whumpfing, hollow sounds, or shooting cracks.
Be carefull with sluffing in steep terrain, especially above cliffs and terrain traps.

Problems

Wind Slabs

Wind Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer of snow (a slab) formed by the wind. Wind typically transports snow from the upwind sides of terrain features and deposits snow on the downwind side. Wind slabs are often smooth and rounded and sometimes sound hollow, and can range from soft to hard. Wind slabs that form over a persistent weak layer (surface hoar, depth hoar, or near-surface facets) may be termed Persistent Slabs or may develop into Persistent Slabs.

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.