Avalanche Forecast

Moderate - Uncertainty is due to the limited number of field observations.

Thursday night: no new snow expected in the North of the region, some light flurries in the South. Temperature low of -7 at 1300m. Winds moderate to strong from the West.

Friday: temperature at 1200m will be -8 with moderate to strong West winds. No new snow is expected.

Saturday: Temperature at 1200m will be -8, no snow expected. winds will be moderate from the West.

Sunday: No new snow expected, temperature at 1200m -14, winds will be light to moderate from the Northwest.

A few large avalanches on North aspects were reported in the Northeast part of the region. We suspect these released naturally during Tuesday nights storm.

A fatal avalanche involvement occurred in the Hasler riding area on Saturday. A machine triggered size 3 resulted in two partial burials who survived and a full burial who did not survive. Find the full report here.

Wind slabs will be found in wind exposed terrain in the treeline and alpine. A new crust exists below 1700m. The mid November rain crust can be found down 1m.

The lower snowpack consists of a series of early season crusts. These appear to be strong, but shallow alpine slopes along the eastern side of the Rockies towards Jasper may have weaker, faceted snow near the ground. Anywhere this type of basal snowpack condition exists is a serious concern with recent loading. There is potential for storm slab releases to trigger deeper snowpack layers and produce very large avalanches in these areas. 

Snowpack depths are anticipated to be approaching 3 m in the alpine and around 150cm at treeline. Pine Pass area is currently the leader for snowpack depths so far this season.

• Watch for newly formed and reactive wind slabs as you transition into wind affected terrain.
• Don't be too cavalier with decision making, storm slabs may remain sensitive to human triggering.