Avalanche Forecast

Issued: Jan 12th, 2024 4:00PM

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

Avalanche Canada mhalik, Avalanche Canada

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Use caution when transitioning into wind-loaded terrain.The extreme cold temperatures are forecast to linger for a couple more days; check out this blog for tips on managing cold weather.

Summary

Confidence

High

Avalanche Summary

Friday Ski tourers near Hudson Bay Mountain felt whumpfing and saw a few small naturally triggered wind slabs in the alpine out of south-facing slopes.

Wednesday The field team experienced shooting cracks ski cutting a wind-loaded southwest-facing alpine slope. They also saw several small wind slabs on similar slopes that were a few days old. More details HERE.

Tuesday The field team experienced whumpfing on a north-facing ridge near Hazelton.

Snowpack Summary

A new layer of surface hoar is growing on the surface. 15 to 20 cm of recent storm snow is sitting on a rain crust up to 1650 m. In the alpine recent wind slabs have built on south and westerly faces.

Two or more preserved surface hoar layers can be found buried between 35 and 70 cm deep. These layers are most prominent at treeline and below treeline elevations, above 1200 m. They've also been observed in north and east-facing alpine locations.

Snowpack depths at treeline vary across the region with generally deeper amounts (150 to 120 cm) west of the highway, and shallower (50 to 90 cm) to the east.

Weather Summary

Friday Night

Skies mostly clear overnight with no new snow, variable alpine wind 5-15 km/h, treeline temperatures drop to -31 ºC.

Saturday

Partially cloudy, no new snow, southeasterly alpine wind 5-10 km/h, treeline temperature high of -25 ºC.

Sunday

A mix of sun and cloud, no new snow, westerly alpine wind 10-25 km/h, treeline temperature high of -20 ºC.

Monday

Cloudy, no new snow, southwest alpine wind 5-10 km/h, treeline temperature high of -11 ºC.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • Look for signs of instability: whumphing, hollow sounds, shooting cracks, and recent avalanches.
  • Carefully evaluate steep lines for wind slabs.

Problems

Wind Slabs

An icon showing Wind Slabs

Recent north and easterly winds have built wind slabs in atypical places in the alpine.

Aspects: East, South East, South, South West, West.

Elevations: Alpine.

Likelihood

Likely

Expected Size

1 - 2

Persistent Slabs

An icon showing Persistent Slabs

Several buried surface hoar layers may be found 35 to 70 cm deep. These layers exist at elevations above 1200 m and do not seem to be an issue in the alpine on south and west faces.

Aspects: All aspects.

Elevations: All elevations.

Likelihood

Possible

Expected Size

1 - 2.5

Valid until: Jan 13th, 2024 4:00PM

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