Avalanche Forecast

Issued: Jan 31st, 2014 4:05PM

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

stephen holeczi, Parks Canada

Banff Yoho Kootenay.

Decent skiing can be found in sheltered locations. Due to the variability in the snowpack, we are still treating larger alpine features with caution. SH

Summary

Weather Forecast

Light to mod. N winds in the alpine for Saturday with lows around -25C and highs in the -15C range.Â No snow in the forecast except for a trace on Sunday.

Snowpack Summary

5-15cm of snow has buried the Jan 30th surface hoar / sun crust layer. This new snow came in with very little wind, but there have been some soft storm slabs building in the immediate lees of S through SE ridgetops.Â The basal facets remain weak, but the overall snowpack is gaining strength.

Avalanche Summary

No new avalanches observed in the past several days.

Confidence

on Saturday

Problems

Deep Persistent Slabs

Watch for thin snowpack areas in steeper terrain where triggering the basal depth hoar/crust is possible.

Be aware of the potential for full depth avalanches due to deeply buried weak layers.Be aware of thin areas that may propogate to deeper instabilites.

Aspects: All aspects.

Elevations: Alpine.

Likelihood

Unlikely - Possible

Expected Size

2 - 3

Storm Slabs

These are confined to the immediate lees of ridgetops and will be fairly thin.

Aspects: North, North East, East.

Elevations: Alpine.

Likelihood

Possible

Expected Size

1 - 2

Valid until: Feb 1st, 2014 4:00PM