Avalanche Forecast
Regions: Kananaskis.
Wind slabs have made travel challenging at tree line and above. Some better skiing/riding can be had in sheltered treed areas and lower angled terrain.
Confidence
High -
Weather Forecast
Friday: A mix of sun and cloud with a high of -4c in the alpine. No snow forecast but plenty of wind from the West at 70km/hr. Freezing level expected to be 1300m.
Saturday: Cloudy with sunny periods and a high of -8c with moderate winds from the West. Â
Next Week: There might be a few cm's on Monday. Fingers crossed and stay tuned....
Avalanche Summary
No new reported or observed today
Snowpack Summary
Extensive wind slabs, hard wind slabs, buried wind slabs, and sastrugi(wavy ridges of snow formed by the wind) dominate the alpine and open areas of tree line. These hard wind slabs can be tricky to evaluate because they have the potential to propagate but gives someone the impression underfoot that the base is solid. Take the time to dig and evaluate before committing to larger slopes.
Terrain and Travel
- Watch for areas of hard wind slab on alpine features.
- Be careful with wind slabs, especially in steep, unsupported and/or convex terrain features.
Avalanche Problems
Wind Slabs
The buried wind slab will be hard to trigger but if you are able to get it to go from a thin area, it could produce a large avalanche. Thin wind slabs are also being found along ridgelines.
Aspects: All aspects.
Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.
Likelihood: Possible
Expected Size: 1 - 3