Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Feb 5th, 2026–Feb 6th, 2026

Alpine

Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.

Treeline

Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.

Below Treeline

Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.

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.

Another warm day for Friday. Expect moist snow to go well into the alpine with daytime warming. Limit exposure to sunny slopes and overhead hazards such as solar slopes and cornices.

Confidence

Avalanche Summary

More pin wheeling and wet point releases were observed today. A small, sz 1.5 cornice fell off of Snow Peak on Thursday.

Snowpack Summary

Wide variety of surface conditions depending on aspect and elevation. These include sastrugi, hard wind slab, soft wind slab,wet snow and breakable sun crust. On a heli flight today, we saw +8c at 2350m. Expect moist snow in the valley bottoms and on solar aspects to have formed a new crust, or at the very least made the existing crust thicker. Previous wind slabs are still present, especially in lee and cross loaded gullies. The two surface hoar layers can be found 5-10cm below the surface and 35-50cm below the surface; they are breaking down and not likely to be triggerable. The deep persistent layer of the November rain crust is being monitored, but likely only triggerable in shallow snowpack areas.

Weather Summary

Friday will be another warm day with freezing levels rising to 2400m. Winds will start out in the moderate range from the West and then increase to strong westerly by mid-day. Saturday will bring a cooling trend.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

Avoid steep, sun-exposed slopes when the air temperature is warm or when solar radiation is strong.
Approach lee and cross-loaded slopes with caution.
Pay attention to cornices and give them a wide berth when traveling on or below ridges.

Problems

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.

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.

Cornices

Cornice Fall is the release of an overhanging mass of snow that forms as the wind moves snow over a sharp terrain feature, such as a ridge, and deposits snow on the downwind (leeward) side. Cornices range in size from small wind drifts of soft snow to large overhangs of hard snow that are 30 feet (10 meters) or taller. They can break off the terrain suddenly and pull back onto the ridge top and catch people by surprise even on the flat ground above the slope. Even small cornices can have enough mass to be destructive and deadly. Cornice Fall can entrain loose surface snow or trigger slab avalanches.