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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Feb 22nd, 2022–Feb 23rd, 2022

Alpine
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Alpine
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Alpine
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.

Regions

Kananaskis.

Lots of great skiing to be found, but be mindful of sensitive wind slabs as you transition into wind effected snow at upper elevations.

Confidence

High -

Weather Forecast

Wednesday will start off clear and cold (-35 in the morning), but slowly cloud over with very light flurries and -15 by the afternoon. Winds will be light to moderate from the NW.

Thursday looks like a mix of sun and cloud with milder temperatures.

Avalanche Summary

Several loose dry avalanches in very steep Alpine and Treeline terrain on all aspects, mainly size 1.0, but occasionally up to size 1.5. A few wind slabs up to size 2.0 were also observed in steep Alpine bowl features on E, S and SE aspects. These slabs are failing on the buried sun crust and range from 30 to 50cm thick.

Snowpack Summary

A couple more cm's overnight brings the recent storm snow total tp between 30 and 40cm at treeline. This storm snow sits on the Feb 19th interface which is sun crust on steep solar aspects, and hard wind slab pretty much everywhere else. So far the storm snow is remaining low density (great skiing!) until you get above 2400m. Above this elevation wind slabs are found in lee and cross-loaded terrain, especially along ridgelines. It is also worth noting that wind directions have recently been highly variable, so some reverse wind loading has occurred.

Terrain and Travel

  • Be alert to conditions that change with elevation and wind exposure.
  • Wind slabs may be poorly bonded to the underlying crust.
  • Avoid freshly wind loaded terrain features.

Problems

Wind Slabs

Wind Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer of snow (a slab) formed by the wind. Wind typically transports snow from the upwind sides of terrain features and deposits snow on the downwind side. Wind slabs are often smooth and rounded and sometimes sound hollow, and can range from soft to hard. Wind slabs that form over a persistent weak layer (surface hoar, depth hoar, or near-surface facets) may be termed Persistent Slabs or may develop into Persistent Slabs.