Avalanche Forecast
Regions: Bow Valley, Highwood Pass, Kananaskis, North 40, Spray - KLakes.
Approach all avalanche terrain with caution and expect human triggered avalanches. Now is the time to find low angled skiing.
Confidence
Moderate
Avalanche Summary
Nothing new reported today. But WOW, the MIN reports were on fire this weekend. Thank you to everyone who posted about wet loose slides, avalanches, whumphing, cracking and settlements. This will likely continue for the next few days. https://avalanche.ca/map
Snowpack Summary
Warmer weather continues to settle the upper snowpack into denser snow. Expect to find reactive wind slabs and settled snow up to 30cm thick at treline and above; they will be thicker in lee features. These slabs are reacting on the faceted layer formed by the recent cold spell. The Dec 5th crust can be found in the lower third of the snowpack and could wake up with the warmer temps and produce larger avalanches, especially triggered from thinner areas. Now is a good time to step back and let nature take care of the snowpack with the warmer weather coming in this week.
Weather Summary
Tuesday: Chinook like conditions. Cloudy with sunny periods and isolated flurries. Temperature in the alpine will reach a high of -6c along with 35km/h ridge winds from the West. Freezing level is expected at 1600-1800m.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
Terrain and Travel Advice
- Back off if you encounter whumpfing, hollow sounds, or shooting cracks.
- Be carefull around freshly wind loaded features.
- In areas where deep persistent slabs may exist, avoid shallow or variable depth snowpacks and unsupported terrain features.
Avalanche Problems
Wind Slabs
Recent strong winds have formed windslabs in alpine and treeline areas.
Aspects: North, North East, East, South East, South.
Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.
Likelihood: Likely
Expected Size: 1 - 2
Deep Persistent Slabs
This layer is getting getting buried deeper and deeper over time. The weight and amount of new snow is slowly increasing, which will increase the size of any potential avalanches.
Aspects: North, North East, East, South East, South.
Elevations: Alpine.
Likelihood: Possible
Expected Size: 1.5 - 3