Avalanche Forecast
Regions: Bow Valley, Highwood Pass, Kananaskis, North 40, Spray - KLakes.
Evidence of new slab avalanches are still visible daily. Clear indication of a unhappy snowpack. Continue to practice discipline while travelling in avalanche terrain and keep the terrain selection simple.
Confidence
Moderate
Avalanche Summary
A fresh size 3 windslab off Mt. Burstall East aspect ran into french creek in the last 12-24 hours. The crown is proudly visible from the spray highway.
On Friday a Sz 2.5 fatal skier accidental avalanche in the Black Prince area on a North East Facing slope at 2200m. The avalanche occurred in 35+ deg terrain and appeared to have failed on the Jan 30th interface down 1m deep in places. The avalanche was 100m wide and ran down into thick timber. One skier was involved.
Two skiers reported a Skier accidental sz 1.5 avalanche to the south of black prince on a south east aspect treeline feature around 2300m. The suspected bed layer for this avalanche was the Jan30th interface.
Snowpack Summary
10cm overnight continues to add to a significant snowfall event over the last 6 days. New snow heights vary between 60cm-100cm. Winds have been very light. This snow is settling rapidly with the warmer temps. This new snow is overlying a crust from early March on the solar aspects and a mixture of facets and hard windslabs on more polar aspects. Windslabs have developed within the recent snow 10-30cm thick that are reactive to skier traffic. Deeper in the snowpack the problematic Jan 30th facet interface is down 60-90cm and commonly producing sudden collapse sheers at this interface. A failure in the windslabs will likely step down to the Jan30th interface. Conservative terrain choices that avoid being attached to a bigger piece of terrain is the way to go right now. Forecasters are sticking to low angle, well supported terrain only.
Weather Summary
Monday:
A mix of sun and cloud.
Alpine high temp of -11
20km/h West winds at ridge top.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
Terrain and Travel Advice
- Fresh snow rests on a problematic persistent slab, don't let good riding lure you into complacency.
- Avoid exposure to overhead avalanche terrain; avalanches may run surprisingly far.
- Continue to make conservative terrain choices while the storm snow settles and stabilizes.
- Remote triggering is a big concern, be aware of the potential for wide propagations and large, destructive avalanches at all elevations.
Avalanche Problems
Wind Slabs
If triggered, these are likely to step down to the persistent slab and then to the basal facets.
Aspects: All aspects.
Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.
Likelihood: Likely - Very Likely
Expected Size: 1 - 2.5
Persistent Slabs
This sits upon weak faceted crystals, sun crust or a dense layer that are perfect for slab avalanches. This layer is not reacting well to new loading, or even re-loading from wind.
Aspects: All aspects.
Elevations: All elevations.
Likelihood: Likely - Very Likely
Expected Size: 1.5 - 3.5