Avalanche Forecast
Regions: Brazeau, Churchill, Cirrus-Wilson, Fryatt, Icefields, Jasper, Maligne, Marmot, Miette Lake, Pyramid.
10-20 cm of light new snow arrived Jan 27th with cold temperatures and North winds are reverse loading terrain. Allow the snowpack to adjust to these changes.
Confidence
Moderate
Avalanche Summary
No field patrol occurred on Saturday and nothing new reported. Wednesday-Thursday snowballing and loose wet activity was noted on steep west aspects near Weeping Wall. Thursday a large avalanche was observed in the Icefields starting in the Alpine, running on deep facets, and travelled far below treeline.
Don't forget to post avalanche observations to the MIN.
Snowpack Summary
10 to 20cm of new snow from Jan 27th overlies a melt-freeze crust up to 2000m. Steady moderate north winds at ridge top are creating windslabs. Generally, the bottom is a weak facetted snowpack. The snowpack ranges from 50 to 120cm.
Weather Summary
Sunday is to be cold, clear, and dry. Monday - Wednesday will bring clouds and sun, slightly warmer temperature, and light to moderate Northerly winds.
Detailed weather forecasts from Avalanche Canada: https://avalanche.ca/weather/forecast
Terrain and Travel Advice
- Be aware of the potential for loose avalanches in steep terrain where snow hasn't formed a slab.
- If triggered, loose dry avalanches may step down to deeper layers resulting in large avalanches.
Avalanche Problems
Deep Persistent Slabs
The bottom of the snow pack is inherently weak with well developed Facets and Depth Hoar. Avalanches initiating in the upper snowpack are likely to step down to this layer and gain significant mass.
Aspects: All aspects.
Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.
Likelihood: Possible
Expected Size: 1.5 - 3
Wind Slabs
Moderate north winds at ridge top are creating wind slabs on Southerly slopes which don't typically see wind loading. The wind slabs from previous moderate to strong SW winds are also still present.
Aspects: All aspects.
Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.
Likelihood: Possible - Likely
Expected Size: 1 - 2
Loose Dry
The new low density snow will be sluffing out of steep terrain especially if there is a trigger like strong direct sun.
Aspects: All aspects.
Elevations: All elevations.
Likelihood: Possible - Likely
Expected Size: 1 - 2