Avalanche forecast

Banff Yoho Kootenay

Dec 21 – 22, 2012Parks Canada
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Archived · expired 14 years ago

Avalanche danger

Fri
Sat
Alpine
2 · Moderate
Treeline
2 · Moderate
Below
1 · Low
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Highlights

Mod. to strong winds from the S/SW are creating a fresh instability to watch out for. Periods of strong winds will also increase sluffing out of steep terrain (ice climbers beware). Winds should ease on Friday allowing the danger to decrease.

Avalanche problems

  • Wind Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible - Likely
    Size
    1–2
    10-20 cms of new snow along with mod. S/SW winds is creating slabs up to 40 cms thick  in immediate lees at ridgetop elevations. This new instability has been reactive to skier traffic with ski cutting to size 1.5.

Weather Forecast

Thurs overnight: Alpine temps -10/-15. 2-5 cm snow. Alpine winds moderate from the SW.Fri: Alpine temps -10/-15. Clearing skies, trace precip. Alpine winds light from the SW.Sat: Alpine temps -10/-15. Overcast, trace precip. Alpine winds light from the S.Sun: Alpine temps -10/-15. Overcast, trace precip. Alpine winds light from the SW.

Snowpack Summary

10-20 cms of new snow overlies a well settled midpack. At ridgetop elevations, moderate to strong S/SW winds are forming 15-30 cm soft slabs in the immediate lee on N through E aspects. The Nov. 6th crust is facetting out, and is now more of a facet layer than a crust in many places. This layer is giving hard to no results in compression tests.

Avalanche Summary

Limited observations by Parks staff today.  Reports of ski cutting soft slabs in wind loaded areas by ski patrol at Sunshine and loose snow sluffing out of steep terrain with increased winds.

Confidence

Due to the number of field observations on Thursday

Regions covered