Avalanche Forecast
Regions: Brazeau, Churchill, Cirrus-Wilson, Fryatt, Icefields, Jasper, Maligne, Marmot, Miette Lake, Pyramid.
Forecasted new snow and strong to extreme winds Saturday night will keep the avalanche hazard elevated for the next couple days, especially at tree line and above where the winds have been transporting a lot of snow.
Confidence
Moderate
Avalanche Summary
No new avalanches have been observed in the last 48 hours, but visibility of the the alpine has been poor.
Snowpack Summary
Winds have increased in speed from the southwest and is blowing snow around in the alpine and into the tree line likely creating wind slabs. A layer of faceted snow above a 1-3cm thick crust that is down 35-60 cm. This persistent weak layer is consistently reactive in snowpit tests and is not going away anytime soon. The mid-pack is faceted with basal depth hoar and well developed facets near ground. HS ranges from 80 to 150cm.
Weather Summary
Mountain Weather Forecast is available @ Avalanche Canada https://avalanche.ca/weather/forecast
Parker Ridge - Sunday
Cloudy with sunny periods and isolated flurries.
Precipitation: Trace.
Alpine temperature: High -5 °C.
Ridge wind southwest: 20 km/h gusting to 50 km/h.
Freezing level at valley bottom.
Terrain and Travel Advice
- Avoid exposure to overhead avalanche terrain, large avalanches may reach the end of run out zones.
- If triggered, wind slabs avalanches may step down to deeper layers resulting in larger avalanches.
Avalanche Problems
Wind Slabs
Winds are blowing strong to extreme from the southwest likely creating wind slabs in the alpine and treeline.
Aspects: North, North East, East, South East, North West.
Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.
Likelihood: Likely
Expected Size: 1.5 - 2.5
Persistent Slabs
This problem layer is the crust and facets created by early February's warm spell. It is down 30-80 cm in the snowpack and is a 1-10 cm thick crust or multiple crusts with a layer of weak facets above.
Aspects: All aspects.
Elevations: All elevations.
Likelihood: Likely
Expected Size: 1.5 - 3
Deep Persistent Slabs
The base of the snowpack is inherently weak and untrustworthy. Tickling this deep layer would result in a high consequence avalanche. Any avalanche in the upper snowpack has the potential to step down to the base of the snowpack.
Aspects: All aspects.
Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.
Likelihood: Possible
Expected Size: 2 - 4