Avalanche Forecast
Issued: Jan 6th, 2024 4:00PM
The alpine rating is , the treeline rating is , and the below treeline rating is Known problems include Storm Slabs.
lcrawley,
Avalanche Canada
Assess how the new snow is bonding on small, stand-alone features before committing to larger terrain.
Summary
Confidence
Moderate
Avalanche Summary
Numerous large (size 2) storm slab avalanches were artificially triggered on Saturday.
On Friday a few small (size 1) storm slabs were triggered by riders and explosives.
On Thursday in the Valhallas, one rider-triggered avalanche (size 1.5) failed on facets near the ground. This was on a steep, shallow, rocky feature.
Snowpack Summary
Expect up to 40 cm of new snow by the end of the day Sunday to be sitting on a variety of old layers including crusts, wind-affected snow, and powder.
The middle of the snowpack contains several crusts buried 50 to 70 cm deep. Facets have been seen above the crusts near Kokanee and Valhalla.
Below that are a couple of layers of surface hoar that have been made difficult to trigger by the thick crusts above. If the crust doesn't exist be sure to investigate these layers.
Snowpack depth at treeline is 100 to 140 cm.
Weather Summary
Saturday Night
Cloudy with 10 to 15 cm of snow, variable direction alpine wind 10 to 20 km/h, treeline temperature -9 °C.
Sunday
Cloudy with up to 5 cm of snow, north alpine wind 10 km/h, treeline temperature -10 °C.
Monday
Mostly clear with increasing clouds through the day, a dusting of snow, southwest alpine wind 25 to 35 km/h, treeline temperature -12 °C.
Tuesday
Mostly cloudy with 10 to 20 cm of snow, southwest alpine wind 55 km/h, treeline temperature -7 °C.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
Terrain and Travel Advice
- Give the new snow time to settle and stabilize before pushing into bigger terrain.
- Use small low consequence slopes to test the bond of the new snow.
- Shooting cracks, whumphs and recent avalanches are strong indicators of an unstable snowpack.
Problems
Storm Slabs
Expect this problem to be most reactive and dangerous in lee areas affected by the wind.
Aspects: All aspects.
Elevations: All elevations.
Likelihood
Expected Size
Valid until: Jan 7th, 2024 4:00PM
