Avalanche Forecast

Issued: Feb 14th, 2014 8:00AM

The alpine rating is high, the treeline rating is high, and the below treeline rating is high. Known problems include Storm Slabs, Wind Slabs and Loose Dry.

chris gooliaff, Parks Canada

Glacier.

Another pulse of snow will punch through the Pass today. Danger will rise with the increasing intensity of the storm. Once again, the ski hill is looking mighty fine!

Summary

Weather Forecast

A heavy pulse of snow is coming our way this morning, with moderate to strong west winds accompanying it. Freezing levels will rise to 1100m with the arrival of this front. A slight break is expected Saturday, with cooling and broken skies, but Saturday night will welcome another strong front with heavy snow, strong winds, and warming. Woohoo!

Snowpack Summary

We've received 70-90cm of storm snow in the last 3 days. It has steadily warmed up during the storm, creating a very touchy upside-down storm slab. This slab sits on a "surface hoar/crust/facet" sandwich that is easily failing in snowpack tests. The mid to lower snowpack is well-settled.

Avalanche Summary

Lots of natural activity along the highway corridor and in the backcountry was observed yesterday. Numerous size 1.5 to 3's were observed, with all failure planes being in the range of 70-90cm deep, and most slides running full path length. Good propagation was noted in the storm slab, as crown-lines zippered across slopes in the start zones.

Confidence

Problems

Storm Slabs

The storm slab is just getting thicker and heavier on the underlying weak interface. Any large, open slope that has not slid should be treated with caution, as it awaits just that extra amount of load from a person.

Avoid paths that have not avalanched recently.Whumpfing, shooting cracks and recent avalanches are all strong inicators of unstable snowpack.

Aspects: All aspects.

Elevations: All elevations.

Likelihood

Likely - Very Likely

Expected Size

2 - 4

Wind Slabs

Strong winds in the alpine have redistributed the copious amounts of new snow into very touchy wind slabs. Expect to find extensive cracking and whumphing under your boards where the wind has affected the surface.

Avoid freshly wind loaded features.Watch for whumpfing, hollow sounds, and shooting cracks.

Aspects: All aspects.

Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.

Likelihood

Likely

Expected Size

2 - 3

Loose Dry

Sluffing from steep terrain will gain mass and speed. Given the new amounts of snow, sluffing is a certainty, so use caution above terrain traps. Stop periodically and move to the side, allowing that freight-train of pow to pass you by.

Be aware of party members below you that may be exposed to your sluffs.Avoid exposure to terrain traps where the consequences of a small avalanche could be serious.

Aspects: All aspects.

Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.

Likelihood

Likely

Expected Size

1 - 3

Valid until: Feb 15th, 2014 8:00AM