Avalanche Forecast
Regions: Bow Valley, Highwood Pass, Kananaskis, North 40, Spray - KLakes.
944am Update, An additional 10cm of snow has fallen at treeline and above with strong westerly winds raising the danger to Considerable.
Watch for new reactive windslabs and loose dry avalanches.
Confidence
High
Avalanche Summary
Forecasters were able to ski cut a few smaller sz 1 avalanches in wind affected terrain at treeline on East aspects.
Snowpack Summary
Some new snow fell on Friday (6-10cm) with associated moderate westerly winds. This new snow fell on a variety of different snow surfaces from Isolated surface hoar, suncrust on steep solar or a previous hard wind affected surface.
The moderate wind were creating thin new reactive windslabs that were failing at the Jan 30th interface down 10-20cm at treeline. These slabs do not extend far downslope as of this afternoon, but more snow is forecast with continued winds so we can expect this problem to continue to develop overnight and into the weekend.
Valley floor elevations still look somewhat thin as the new snow that fell rapidly decreased in amounts as you dropped in elevation.
The big change is in your mindset. We are leaving the green brick, so step back, and evaluate the changing avalanche danger.
Weather Summary
See table. More snow is forecast overnight with increasing winds on Saturday. Temperatures will continue to drop for Sunday.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
Terrain and Travel Advice
- Approach lee and cross-loaded slopes with caution.
- Be careful as you transition into wind-affected terrain.
- Wind slabs are most reactive during their formation.
Avalanche Problems
Wind Slabs
Wind prone features, such as lee and cross-loaded gullies could have dense wind slabs.
Aspects: All aspects.
Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.
Likelihood: Possible - Likely
Expected Size: 1 - 2