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Archived

Avalanche Forecast

Dec 23rd, 2023–Dec 24th, 2023
Alpine
2: Moderate
The avalanche danger rating in the alpine will be moderate
Treeline
1: Low
The avalanche danger rating at treeline will be low
Below Treeline
1: Low
The avalanche danger rating below treeline will be low
Alpine
2: Moderate
The avalanche danger rating in the alpine will be moderate
Treeline
1: Low
The avalanche danger rating at treeline will be low
Below Treeline
1: Low
The avalanche danger rating below treeline will be low
Alpine
2: Moderate
The avalanche danger rating in the alpine will be moderate
Treeline
2: Moderate
The avalanche danger rating at treeline will be moderate
Below Treeline
1: Low
The avalanche danger rating below treeline will be low

Regions: Brazeau, Churchill, Cirrus-Wilson, Fryatt, Icefields, Jasper, Maligne, Marmot, Miette Lake, Pyramid.

5-10cm of fresh snow means softer turns, but be careful in windloaded or reverse loaded spots. The base is also still weak and isn't improving quickly.

Keep an eye out for early season hazards—Santa seems to be sending cool temps and clearer skies, not snowflakes!

Confidence

Moderate

Avalanche Summary

Minor sloughing in steep alpine terrain and a small pocket of windslab from cornice trigger being reported nearby.

Otherwise no new avalanches to report.

Snowpack Summary

5-10cm of new snow sits on a Melt-Freeze crust below 1900m on solar aspects. The snowpack is 45-80cm deep and is weak and facetted. Previous strong winds have stripped exposed alpine and tree-line terrain, creating hard wind slabs in cross-loaded and lee features. Basal weaknesses are a combo of large facets and chains of depth hoar.

An Ice Climbing Conditions report is available here.

Weather Summary

The Mountain Weather Forecast is available at Avalanche Canada https://avalanche.ca/weather/forecast

Sunday in the Icefields

Sunny with cloudy periods. Alpine temperature High of -9 °C with ridgetop wind southwest 10 km/h.

Monday

Cloudy with sunny periods and isolated flurries. Trace amounts of precipitation. Alpine temperature: Low -13 °C, High -8 °C with ridgetop wind southwest: 15 km/h.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • Be careful with wind slabs, especially in steep, unsupported and/or convex terrain features.
  • Early season avalanches at any elevation have the potential to be particularly dangerous due to obstacles that are exposed or just below the surface.

Avalanche Problems

Deep Persistent Slabs

You must keep this basal layer on your radar as triggering is possible in some features, like approaching or moving between pitches on ice climbs. Be cautious in steep terrain if you find yourself standing on the surface and not wallowing in facets, that's the problem slab.

Aspects: All aspects.

Elevations: Alpine.

Likelihood: Unlikely - Possible

Expected Size: 1 - 2.5

Wind Slabs

Previous strong winds have stripped exposed alpine and tree-line terrain, creating hard wind slabs in cross-loaded and lee features. These winds switched from Southwest to Northwest on Friday, reverse loading features where snow remained.

Aspects: North, North East, East, South East, South, North West.

Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.

Likelihood: Possible

Expected Size: 1 - 1.5