Avalanche Forecast
Issued: Mar 4th, 2022 3:00PM
The alpine rating is , the treeline rating is , and the below treeline rating is Known problems include Persistent Slabs and Cornices.
JMinifie,
Avalanche Canada
With fair weather comes the desire to get after it. However, there's some interesting things going on in the upper snowpack so listen to what it is telling you and continue to investigate for the existence of buried weak layers on the features you are riding.
Summary
Confidence
Weather Forecast
Friday night: Mainly clear. No precipitation. Light winds from the north. -9°C in the alpine.
Saturday: Mainly sunny. No precipitation. Light winds from the north. A low of -9°C and a high of +3°C in the alpine. Freezing levels rising to 1400m.
Sunday: Mainly sunny. No precipitation. Moderate winds from the north. A low of -5°C and a high of +3°C. Freezing levels rising above 2000m.
Monday: Mainly sunny. No precipitation. Light winds from the north. A low of -5°C and a high of +2°C. Freezing levels at 1500m.
Avalanche Summary
There have been isolated, skier reactive slab avalanches to size 1.5 reported on weak, feathery surface hoar crystals buried 25-50cm at treeline and in the lower alpine.
A professional operation reported a slab avalanche being triggered by a wet loose avalanche from above on Thursday.
Snowpack Summary
There's a lot going on in the upper snowpack. Careful assessment is recommended.
There is now a crust on the surface at lower elevations and on solar aspects at treeline.
Feathery, weak surface hoar crystals buried around February 26th are now found down 25-50cm most prominently at treeline elevations. There have been reports of this layer being reactive to skier traffic.
A thick crust buried in mid-February is now found down 60-100cm. Though there has been little avalanche activity reported on this layer, it should be treated with suspicion.
The lower snowpack is effectively bridged by the layers above and we do not expect avalanches to be triggered in the lower snowpack at this time.
Terrain and Travel
- Carefully assess open slopes and convex rolls where buried surface hoar may be preserved.
- Surface hoar distribution is highly variable. Avoid generalizing your observations.
- Avoid travelling on slopes below cornices.
- Firm cornices can pull back into flat terrain at ridgetop if they fail.
Problems
Persistent Slabs
Weak, feathery crystals buried 30-50cm are producing isolated avalanches. This problem seems mainly isolated to sheltered treeline features, however, I would assume it exists in the alpine until proven otherwise.
Aspects: All aspects.
Elevations: Treeline.
Likelihood
Expected Size
Cornices
A number of days of sun and high freezing levels will likely wake up cornices. Avoid slopes with cornice hazard above.
Aspects: North, North East, East, North West.
Elevations: Alpine.
Likelihood
Expected Size
Valid until: Mar 5th, 2022 3:00PM
