Avalanche Forecast
Issued: Dec 7th, 2016 8:08AM
The alpine rating is , the treeline rating is , and the below treeline rating is Known problems include Wind Slabs.
ian gale,
Parks Canada
Be cautious in alpine and tree-line elevations where winds have stiffened the surface into a slab.
Summary
Weather Forecast
Cold, calm, and a mix of sun with cloud for the next few days. The Arctic ridge is parked over the region and bringing temp's to -20*C in the alpine. The next little bit of snow is forecasted to arrive late friday but won't amount to much more than 5cm through the weekend.
Snowpack Summary
On glaciers and at ridgetop widespread wind effected snow was observed yesterday. Snow profiles have shown 70-80 cm of storm snow settling very slowly due to cold temps. Tests show reactive shears within the storm snow and the older buried layers of windslab. The Nov 13 crust, down 1 - 1.5 m is reacting in the hard range to deep tap tests.
Avalanche Summary
A sz 2.0 avalanche was observed from the steep North face of Mt Macdonald yesterday. While most natural activity has tapered off with the cold temp's and calm winds, evidence of a recent widespread avalanche cycle is visible throughout the park. These slabs failed from rapid loading during the storm, were 50cm deep & running to near valley-bottom.
Confidence
Due to the number of field observations
Problems
Wind Slabs
Variable gusting winds have created windslab in the alpine. Expect cornices and crossloaded features lower on slopes to be reactive aswell. Stay observant and approach wind loaded areas carefully.
Be cautious as you transition into wind affected terrain.Use caution on open slopes and convex rolls
Aspects: All aspects.
Elevations: Alpine.
Likelihood
Expected Size
Valid until: Dec 8th, 2016 8:00AM
