Avalanche Forecast
Issued: Mar 6th, 2024 4:00PM
The alpine rating is , the treeline rating is , and the below treeline rating is Known problems include Persistent Slabs and Storm Slabs.
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Avalanche Canada
⚠️Dangerous avalanche conditions⚠️
Stick to low-angle terrain and be mindful of overhead hazard. Human-triggered and remote-triggered avalanches remain a serious concern.
Summary
Confidence
Moderate
Avalanche Summary
Numerous large to very large slab avalanches were triggered naturally and by explosives in the Lizard Range over the past few days (size 2 to 3.5). Smaller storm slabs were reported in the Alberta Rockies (size 1 to 2). Avalanches are failing in both storm snow layers and on a deeply buried persistent weak layer of crust/facets.
Human-triggering remains a serious concern in alpine and treeline terrain.
Snowpack Summary
The upper snowpack has 20 to 40 cm of settling storm snow, with a potential sun crust forming on steep sun-exposed slopes. A widespread crust is buried 80 to 160 cm deep, and weak facets above this crust have been producing large avalanches throughout the Rockies. The snow below the crust is mostly strong and bonded.
Weather Summary
Wednesday Night
Clear skies. 15 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -16 °C.
Thursday
Sunny. 25 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -6 °C.
Friday
Mostly sunny. 40 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -4 °C.
Saturday
Mix of sun and cloud. 40 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -2 °C.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
Terrain and Travel Advice
- Conservative terrain selection is critical, choose only well supported, low consequence lines.
- Avoid areas with overhead hazard.
- Remote triggering is a concern, watch out for adjacent and overhead slopes.
Problems
Persistent Slabs
Large, high-consequence avalanches are possible due to a deeply buried weak layer of faceted grains above a crust (80 to 160 cm deep). Steep open slopes at treeline and alpine elevations are highly suspect.
Aspects: All aspects.
Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.
Likelihood
Expected Size
Storm Slabs
Heavy snowfall over the past week has left reactive storm slabs at all elevations. If triggered, these storm slabs could trigger larger persistent slab avalanches.
Aspects: All aspects.
Elevations: All elevations.
Likelihood
Expected Size
Valid until: Mar 7th, 2024 4:00PM
