Avalanche Forecast

Issued: Feb 24th, 2024 4:00PM

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

Avalanche Canada lcrawley, Avalanche Canada

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Avoid all avalanche terrain.

Lots of snow and wind is overloading buried weak layers. Natural and human-triggered avalanches are likely.

Summary

Confidence

High

Avalanche Summary

Significant avalanche activity is expected to have occurred on Saturday but no new reports have come in at the time of publishing.

On Friday several small and large (size 2) storm and persistent slab avalanches were rider-triggered at treeline and above. Sometimes remotely from up to 100 m away.

On Thursday several small persistent slab avalanches were triggered by riders failing on the crust layer from early February.

Snowpack Summary

20 to 30 cm of recent snow with a lot more on the way sits on a drought layer of sun crust, weak sugary facets, surface hoar, and or lower elevation crust.

Another layer of surface hoar is down around 30 to 60 cm in sheltered areas.

The widespread crust buried in early February is down 50 to 75 cm and has sugary facets on top. In most places, this crust is widespread up to 2400 m.

The base of the snowpack is still loose and faceted in shallow rocky alpine areas.

Weather Summary

Saturday Night

Cloudy with 15 to 25 cm of snow. 35 to 45 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -4 °C.

Sunday

Cloudy with 15 to 30 cm of snow. 45 to 55 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -5 °C. Freezing level 1500 m.

Monday

Cloudy with 10 to 20 cm of snow. 15 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -12 °C.

Tuesday

Cloudy with 10 to 20 cm of snow. 10 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -15 °C.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • Avoid all avalanche terrain during periods of heavy snowfall.
  • Only the most simple non-avalanche terrain free of overhead hazard is appropriate at this time.
  • Storm slabs in motion may step down to deeper layers resulting in large avalanches.
  • Avoid exposure to overhead avalanche terrain, avalanches may run surprisingly far.

Problems

Storm Slabs

An icon showing Storm Slabs

Up to 40 cm of new snow with more coming down has formed a reactive storm slab. These slabs will be more reactive where they overlay facets or surface hoar.

Aspects: All aspects.

Elevations: All elevations.

Likelihood

Likely - Very Likely

Expected Size

1 - 2.5

Persistent Slabs

An icon showing Persistent Slabs

This crust/facet combo layer is now buried up to 65 cm deep. Avalanches releasing on this layer will be large, dangerous, and unexpected.

It is also possible to trigger an avalanche from a distance.

Aspects: All aspects.

Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.

Likelihood

Likely

Expected Size

2 - 3.5

Valid until: Feb 25th, 2024 4:00PM

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