Avalanche Forecast
Regions: Cirrus-Wilson, Icefields.
Up to 10cm of snow with continuing strong winds is forecasted for the Icefields region through Friday, and will keep the avalanche hazard elevated over the next few days.
Wednesday's explosive control near Parker Ridge resulted in numerous avalanches, including several large avalanches stepping down to ground. Keep your terrain choices conservative and pay attention to your overhead hazard.
Confidence
Moderate
Avalanche Summary
Several size 3 natural avalanches out of alpine features have been observed in the last few days.
Avalanche control with explosives on Wednesday resulted in numerous avalanches with several of them being size 3 running to the bottom of the avalanche paths.
Don't forget to post avalanche observations to the MIN.
Snowpack Summary
Around 20 to 30cm of snow fell in the Icefields area during the storm. Strong south west winds have created new wind slabs in the alpine and exposed tree line. This new snow adds to 20cm of settled snow from early February. Generally, the mid and bottom of the snowpack is weak facets with depth hoar at the base. The snowpack ranges from 60 to 140cm.
Weather Summary
A weather system moving through Thursday night and into Friday could bring up to 10cm with strong winds.
Detailed weather forecasts from Avalanche Canada: https://avalanche.ca/weather/forecast
Terrain and Travel Advice
- If triggered, wind slabs avalanches may step down to deeper layers resulting in larger avalanches.
- In areas where deep persistent slabs may exist, avoid shallow or variable depth snowpacks and unsupported terrain features.
Avalanche Problems
Deep Persistent Slabs
Recent avalanche control had several large avalanche stepping down to this layer. The bottom of the snow pack is inherently weak with well developed Facets and Depth Hoar.
Aspects: All aspects.
Elevations: All elevations.
Likelihood: Very Likely
Expected Size: 2 - 3
Wind Slabs
New snow with moderate to strong southwest wind created new wind slabs in the alpine and exposed tree line features.
Aspects: All aspects.
Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.
Likelihood: Likely
Expected Size: 1 - 2
Loose Dry
Watch for dry loose avalanche especially in areas with high consequence like terrain traps
Aspects: All aspects.
Elevations: Treeline, Below Treeline.
Likelihood: Likely
Expected Size: 1 - 2