Avalanche Forecast

Issued: Apr 12th, 2018 3:00PM

The alpine rating is moderate, the treeline rating is moderate, and the below treeline rating is moderate. Known problems include Wind Slabs, Cornices and Persistent Slabs.

mike.koppang, Alberta Parks

Kananaskis.

Pay attention to the affect of solar radiation on friday. As temperatures warm up and the sun hits slopes, stability will decrease. Start early!

Summary

Confidence

High -

Weather Forecast

The snow will taper off overnight and winds will begin to increase into the moderate range out of the west.Â Temperatures are forecat to be around -7C with a freezing level around 1900mÂ When the sun does come out, expect stability to quickly decrease.Â These decreases will be more apparent on solar aspects especially in steeper thin rocky terrain.Â Pay attention to whats overhead and in the sun.Â Cornices will also become weak with daytime heating so use caution.Â

Avalanche Summary

No new avalanche activity.

Snowpack Summary

10cm of new snow over the past 24hrs with only light easterly winds.Â This new snow is overlying a widespread supportive melt freeze up to 2100m and up to the peaks on the solar aspects.Â Windslabs are still being encountered along ridgelines and in cross loaded features.Â Use caution in thinner or unsupported terrain near these areas.Â The March 15th layer is down 50cm and is slowly gaining strength but we are still treating this layer cautiously.Â Dig down and be curious with it and evaluate it before committing.Â

Problems

Wind Slabs

Watch for wind slabs in Alpine especially near cross-loaded gullies and immediately below ridge-lines. These slabs may become more sensitive to triggering as the temperatures rise during the day.

Evaluate unsupported slopes critically.Be careful with wind loaded pockets, especially near ridge crests and roll-overs.

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

Elevations: Alpine.

Likelihood

Possible

Expected Size

1 - 2

Cornices

Cornices are large and looming. When the solar radiation is strong and/or the air temperature rises, cornice collapses could be a major concern.

Cornices become weak with daytime heating. Pay attention to overhead hazards like cornices which could easily trigger persistent slabs.Give cornices a wide berth when travelling on or below ridges.

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

Elevations: Alpine.

Likelihood

Possible

Expected Size

1 - 3

Persistent Slabs

The March 15th melt-freeze crust, buried 30-50cm on solar aspects, could be an issue on bigger slopes, particularly in the Alpine. Evaluate the snowpack for the presence/absence of this problem layer before committing to a terrain feature.

Avoid steep Southerly aspects.

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

Elevations: Alpine.

Likelihood

Possible

Expected Size

1 - 2

Valid until: Apr 13th, 2018 2:00PM