Dashboard Regions Weather Stations Radar Alerts Glossary
Contact About
Log In

Register for an account and never miss a forecast again!

Register

Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Feb 28th, 2025–Mar 1st, 2025

Alpine
Natural avalanches possible, human triggered probable.
Treeline
Natural avalanches possible, human triggered probable.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches possible, human triggered probable.
Alpine
Natural avalanches possible, human triggered probable.
Treeline
Natural avalanches possible, human triggered probable.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches possible, human triggered probable.
Alpine
Natural avalanches possible, human triggered probable.
Treeline
Natural avalanches possible, human triggered probable.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.

Regions

Little Yoho.

Conditions are tricky now, given recent extreme winds, persistent weak layers, warm temperatures and sun. See the Special Avalanche Warning (SPAW) above for more details.

The Mt. Whymper intermittent closure zone will be closed on Saturday, March 1 for avalanche control. No backcountry activities in this area for the day.

Confidence

High

Avalanche Summary

Numerous natural avalanches were reported in the adjacent Banff area on the persistent layers. For descriptions, check out the avalanche summary in that bulletin.

On Thursday, helicopter avalanche control on Mt. Field, Stephen, and Dennis produced slab avalanches up to size 3. Any spot that looked like it could avalanche, did. Many avalanches triggered slabs from the side walls of the path.

Snowpack Summary

Winds in alpine and treeline areas have blown 10 - 30cm of snow from last weekend. This snow sits over previous slabs and is now up to 60cm thick. The slabs sit on weak layers of facets, surface hoar or sun crust formed in late Jan and Feb.

The mid and lower snowpack is mostly well-settled, though it is heavily facetted in thin snowpack areas. Tree-line snow depths range from 120 cm to 180 cm.

Weather Summary

Saturday - Freezing levels to 2500m, light winds and no snow

Sunday - Much the same

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • Make conservative terrain choices and avoid overhead hazard.
  • If triggered, wind slabs avalanches may step down to deeper layers resulting in larger avalanches.
  • Avoid steep, sun-exposed slopes when the air temperature is warm or when solar radiation is strong.

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.