Avalanche Forecast
Issued: Feb 4th, 2016 4:00PM
The alpine rating is , the treeline rating is , and the below treeline rating is Known problems include Wind Slabs and Persistent Slabs.
stephen holeczi,
Avalanche Canada
We are in a holding pattern until more snow and wind arrive Saturday. This means natural avalanches aren't occurring on a regular basis, but we still lack confidence in the current snowpack to step out into bigger terrain. SH
Summary
Weather Forecast
Increasing West winds and a few cm Friday. Alpine temperatures will rise slightly, but will stay in the -6 to -9 range. Up to 10cm is currently forecast for Saturday accompanied by moderate to strong alpine West winds.
Snowpack Summary
Wind slabs in alpine and treeline areas. 40-70cm of snow sits over the Jan 6 surface hoar/facet layer and remains reactive to skier triggering. Test results Wednesday on the Jan 6 layer were in the hard range. Isolated whumphing on Mt. Field recently, likely on the Jan 6 layer.
Avalanche Summary
No new avalanches reported over the last 24 hours. Lots of evidence of the previous widespread natural avalanche cycle up to size 3 on all aspects with some large propagations around Mt. Field.
Confidence
Problems
Wind Slabs
Slabs 30 to 50cm deep exist in alpine lee areas. Although these slabs are slowly becoming more difficult to trigger, human triggering is still possible.
- Avoid steep lee and cross-loaded features
- If triggered the wind slabs may step down to deeper layers resulting in large avalanches.
Aspects: North, North East, East, South East.
Elevations: Alpine.
Likelihood
Expected Size
Persistent Slabs
An average of 40-70 cm overlies the Jan 6 layer of surface hoar and facets. Test results on this layer show it is still in the range of human triggering with potential for failures to step down into deeper layers and result in large avalanches.
- Avoid open slopes and convex rolls where buried surface hoar may be preserved.
- Use careful route-finding and stick to moderate slope angles with low consequences
Aspects: All aspects.
Elevations: All elevations.
Likelihood
Expected Size
Valid until: Feb 5th, 2016 4:00PM
