Avalanche Forecast

Issued: Dec 21st, 2016 3:27PM

The alpine rating is considerable, the treeline rating is moderate, and the below treeline rating is low. Known problems include Wind Slabs and Loose Dry.

jeremy.mackenzie, Alberta Parks

Kananaskis.

Fresh wind slabs are the main concern in the snowpack and they will be sensitive to human triggering for the next couple of days. Also watch for previously formed wind slabs found on all aspects.

Summary

Confidence

Moderate -

Weather Forecast

Thursday will be mostly cloudy with strong SW winds. Friday and Saturday could see light snow accumulations and cooler temperatures.

Avalanche Summary

Limited natural slab avalanche activity has been observed in Alpine terrain on all aspects.

Snowpack Summary

Another 10 to 12cm of new snow in the past 24 hours pushes the recent storm snow up to between 30 to 40cm. The storm snow interface produced moderate shears today in snowpack tests. Wind slabs are dominant in Alpine and Treeline areas, especially in lee and cross-loaded features. The November crust layer buried between 50 and 90cm continues to be a layer we are watching closely, but snowpack test results remain highly variable at this interface. The low elevation snowpack remains weak and facetted.

Problems

Wind Slabs

Various layers of wind slab are found in the Alpine and at Treeline. The most recent storm focussed on lee and cross-loaded features, but previously formed wind slabs are found on all aspects. Evaluate terrain carefully before committing to a slope.

If triggered the wind slabs may step down to deeper layers resulting in large avalanches.Watch for areas of hard wind slab in steep alpine features.Use caution on open slopes and convex rolls

Aspects: All aspects.

Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.

Likelihood

Likely - Very Likely

Expected Size

2 - 3

Loose Dry

Still a concern given our mainly facetted snow pack. Gully features should be avoided. Ice climbers should be very aware of this concern.

Avoid travelling on ledges and cliffs where sluffing may have severe consequences.Be cautious of sluffing in steep terrain.Carry avalanche safety equipment on ice climbs in avalanche terrain.

Aspects: All aspects.

Elevations: Alpine.

Likelihood

Likely

Expected Size

1 - 2

Valid until: Dec 22nd, 2016 2:00PM