Avalanche Forecast
Issued: Nov 15th, 2020 3:00PM
The alpine rating is , the treeline rating is , and the below treeline rating is Known problems include Wind Slabs.
matt,
Avalanche Canada
A busy day today at Highwood Pass! Pretty much any ski-able terrain was heavily, heavily traveled. This inevitably forces people to look elsewhere for fresh turns. Be diligent with selecting un-skied terrain.
Summary
Confidence
Weather Forecast
Steady temperatures around -8. Wind will fade a bit, dropping to 45km/hr from the west by tomorrow afternoon. No snow is forecasted, but don't be surprised if there are some local flurries rolling through the area.
Avalanche Summary
Some old(24 hours) avalanches were note today. They were sz1.5-2, east aspect and below alpine cliffs.
Snowpack Summary
New snow on Saturday and Sunday has buried the Nov 5 crust under 45-50cm of snow at treeline. So far it appears to be bonding OK, but previously wind scoured/exposed crust patches might have a worse bond with the new storm snow. Basically, its worth spending some time investigating it at the start of the day. Of more interest today was a facet layer down 40cm. Its thought this was the exposed surface during the last warm spell. In snow tests we had repeatable failures(CTM12 SC) on this layer today. The winds today transported a LOT of snow and windslabs are building at all elevations.
Terrain and Travel
- Avoid lee and cross-loaded slopes at and above treeline.
- Avoid freshly wind loaded features, especially near ridge crests, roll-overs and in steep terrain.
- Ice climbers should be equipped with avalanche safety gear.
- Avoid terrain traps such as gullies and cliffs where the consequence of any avalanche could be serious.
Problems
Wind Slabs
Winds today formed slabs in most open areas. These became more reactive as the day went on. Expect that trend to continue overnight and into tomorrow.
Aspects: North, North East, East, South East, South.
Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.
Likelihood
Expected Size
Valid until: Nov 16th, 2020 3:00PM
