Avalanche Forecast

Issued: Mar 25th, 2023 1:45PM

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

Avalanche Canada mkoppang, Avalanche Canada

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New snow may entice you to push into bigger terrain in search of turns but the base and mid pack is still weak. Its hard to be disciplined for the entire season, but thats whats gonna pay off long term.

Summary

Confidence

High

Avalanche Summary

Numerous loose dry avalanche up to sz 1 on all aspects but no new slab avalanche activity was noted.

Snowpack Summary

10-13cm fell overnight on Friday giving a nice reset to the region. This new snow has seen very little wind and as such, not much for new windslab development was observed. How this new snow bonds to the crust will be important to consider. We now have multiple crusts on solar aspects, and more are expected to come as spring continues. Dig down on these aspects and check this interface. A fracture line profile was done today on a possible skier triggered sz 3 avalanche from a few days ago in the Murray Moraines drainage on a N aspect at 2200m. The failure layer was a layer of facets/depth hoar down 100cm. This layer was producing moderate sudden collapses. Also the propagation on this layer was over 200m. This layer has been noted in snow profiles throughout the region and rockies so be sure to dig down before committing to a feature. The slope that avalanched took out and buried numerous ski lines. Forecasters are still avoiding being on any steeper or large features due to high levels of uncertainty within the snowpack.

Weather Summary

Sunday will be much like Saturday with a few cm of new snow forecast from convective flurries and winds will continue to be light out of the north. Temperatures will be around -4C during the peak of the day but that can quickly change when the sun comes out and solar radiation intensifies on the solar aspects.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • Minimize exposure to sun-exposed slopes when the solar radiation is strong.
  • Avoid shallow, rocky areas where the snowpack transitions from thick to thin.
  • In areas where deep persistent slabs may exist, avoid shallow or variable depth snowpacks and unsupported terrain features.

Problems

Persistent Slabs

An icon showing Persistent Slabs

A facet/depth hoar layer down 80-100cm that was buried mid season. This layer has becoming more active on recent avalanches both natural and human triggerred.

Aspects: All aspects.

Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.

Likelihood

Possible - Likely

Expected Size

1.5 - 3

Deep Persistent Slabs

An icon showing Deep Persistent Slabs

Thin, shallow areas or heavy triggers are what will set this layer off. Avoid terrain with those characteristics.

Aspects: All aspects.

Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.

Likelihood

Possible - Likely

Expected Size

2 - 3.5

Valid until: Mar 26th, 2023 4:00PM

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