Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Mar 29th, 2025–Mar 30th, 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 possible, human triggered probable.

Regions

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

The entire snowpack is moist and hopefully cooling with chilly temperatures tonight. We are on a slow moving improving trend, but it will still take some patience to get there.

Confidence

High

Avalanche Summary

Nothing new today.

Snowpack Summary

A field trip today revealed a much wetter snowpack than first thought. We have about 35cm of settled storm snow resting on top of the Mar 28th crust. The snowpack is holding a fair bit of warmth still and only the top 10cm of the crust layer is frozen. The crust if firm enough that skis wash out on it and occasionally break through. Beneath the crust is 40-60cm of moist, dense snow. The Jan 30th interface is down a meter in places and consists of moist facets. Snow tests today had moderate failures on the Jan 30 layer and slightly better results on the deeper layers. In other words, both the Jan 30 and deep layers are unfortunately still in the game and need to be respected.

Weather Summary

Continued flurries will give another few cm's overnight. Temperatures will drop to -12 overnight and rise to 0° by early afternoon. Winds will variable in direction, but very light. Even peak height winds will be light and variable. Expect a fair bit of solar to creep through and make things feel much warmer.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

Avoid exposure to overhead avalanche terrain; avalanches may run surprisingly far.
Keep in mind that human triggering may persist as natural avalanches taper off.

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.

Deep Persistent Slabs

Deep Persistent Slab avalanches are the release of a thick cohesive layer of hard snow (a slab), when the bond breaks between the slab and an underlying persistent weak layer deep in the snowpack. The most common persistent weak layers involved in deep, persistent slabs are depth hoar or facets surrounding a deeply buried crust. Deep Persistent Slabs are typically hard to trigger, are very destructive and dangerous due to the large mass of snow involved, and can persist for months once developed. They are often triggered from areas where the snow is shallow and weak, and are particularly difficult to forecast for and manage.