Avalanche Forecast
Regions: Kananaskis.
Rugged skiing below 2150m. Above that things improve drastically and the skiing was quite good.
Confidence
Moderate - Uncertainty is due to the limited number of field observations.
Weather Forecast
The cold influence will remain with night time low's of -20 and day time highs -13. sky's will be more cloudy tomorrow with no precip in the forecast. Winds have swaped to a moderate NW flow.
Avalanche Summary
Evidence of a large avalanche cycle in the Murray moraines valley, Minimal loose dry action observed today
Snowpack Summary
Elevation dependent!
Below 2150m expect the Dec 1 Melt freeze crust (Mfcr) on all aspects and supportive to travel. Ski quality suffers.
Above 2150M things improve drastically. Today we got as high as 2450m and found excellent ski quality for that 300m band.
A quick dig on a N aspect in the alpine showed a progressively stiff snowpack with small basal facets starting to forum. Alpine height of snow (HS) is very variable from 140cm- over 2 meters in the deepest of spots.
Terrain and Travel
- Be carefull with sluffing in steep terrain, especially above cliffs and terrain traps.
- If triggered, wind slabs avalanches may step down to deeper layers resulting in larger avalanches.
Avalanche Problems
Wind Slabs
With forecasted NW winds, Reverse loading becomes a possibility. You may find windslabs where you normally would not.
Aspects: All aspects.
Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.
Likelihood: Possible
Expected Size: 1.5 - 2.5
Deep Persistent Slabs
Treeline: The Dec 1 Mfcr exists up to 2150M. Currently this is showing no results in tests. This may become a concern later in the season.
Alpine: We are starting to find Basal Facets in the snowpack. These are giving Hard to no results currently. something to watch for through out the season.
Aspects: All aspects.
Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.
Likelihood: Possible
Expected Size: 2.5 - 3.5