Avalanche Forecast
Issued: Jan 13th, 2024 1:45PM
The alpine rating is , the treeline rating is , and the below treeline rating is Known problems include Wind Slabs and Deep Persistent Slabs.
Dvonk,
Avalanche Canada
Looking forward, "warmer" temps are on the horizon. Later starts and early finishes on sunny aspects will give you the best chance of success for a small stroll to stretch the legs on Sunday. Be thinking about the "what ifs" you go out and break a binding, a tweaked knee or any injury. Minor situations can become major emergencies in this weather.
Summary
Confidence
Avalanche Summary
No field teams or road partols today
Snowpack Summary
Last weeks snow is slowly settling under the influence of the cold temperatures. Winds have been light to moderate and variable in direction so watch for windslabs in alpine areas on all aspects along ridgelines and in open terrain. These same windslabs will also be present at treeline but not as common as in the open alpine areas. A spotty surface hoar layer is down 30-50cm at treeline that is also worth investigating. Deeper in the snowpack is the Dec 5th melt freeze crust that will be inportant as a layer to watch and the weak basal facets under this layer. Thin snowpack areas are places where triggering this layer is possible.
Weather Summary
The Arctic weather continues. -45 on the spray Saturday morning. Sunday is showing slightly warmer temps in the day time high range of -23. Slight warm ups are happening over the coming days.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
Terrain and Travel Advice
- Recent wind has varied in direction so watch for wind slabs on all aspects.
- Watch for newly formed and reactive wind slabs as you transition into wind affected terrain.
- In areas where deep persistent slabs may exist, avoid shallow or variable depth snowpacks and unsupported terrain features.
Problems
Wind Slabs
Windslabs are forming along ridgelines form last week's snow.
Aspects: All aspects.
Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.
Likelihood
Expected Size
Deep Persistent Slabs
This problem will be with us all season. At higher elevations there is more concern that these deep persistent weak layers could be human triggerable.
Aspects: North, North East, East, South East, South.
Elevations: Alpine.
Likelihood
Expected Size
Valid until: Jan 14th, 2024 4:00PM
