Avalanche Forecast

Issued: Mar 9th, 2024 4:00PM

The alpine rating is considerable, the treeline rating is considerable, and the below treeline rating is moderate. Known problems include Wind Slabs, Persistent Slabs and Deep Persistent Slabs.

Avalanche Canada CB, Avalanche Canada

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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.

Summary

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://www.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.

Problems

Wind Slabs

An icon showing 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

An icon showing 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

An icon showing 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

Valid until: Mar 10th, 2024 5:00PM