Avalanche forecast

Jasper

Dec 22 – 23, 2023Avalanche Canada
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Avalanche danger

Sun
Mon
Alpine
2 · Moderate
Treeline
1 · Low
Below
1 · Low
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Highlights

The cooling trend will help stabilize the snowpack in the coming days however we are still dealing with a weak base which isn't going anywhere quickly.

The snowpack remains very thin, watch out for early season hazards lurking just below the surface—here's hoping everyone asked for snow from Santa!

Avalanche problems

  • Wind Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Likely
    Size
    1–1.5

    Recent strong southerly winds have stripped exposed alpine and tree-line terrain, creating hard wind slabs in cross-loaded and lee features.

  • Deep Persistent Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Unlikely - Possible
    Size
    1–2.5

    You must keep this basal layer on your radar as triggering is possible in some features, like approaching or moving between pitches on ice climbs. Be cautious in steep terrain if you find yourself standing on the surface and not wallowing in facets, that's the problem slab.

Confidence

Moderate

Avalanche Summary

Minor sloughing in steep alpine terrain and small pockets of windslab being reported nearby.

Snowpack Summary

Friday's elevated freezing level means there's likely a surface crust below 1700m as temperatures cool off. The snowpack is 45-80cm deep and is weak and facetted. Strong winds have stripped exposed alpine and tree-line terrain, creating hard wind slabs in cross-loaded and lee features. Basal weaknesses are a combo of large facets and chains of depth hoar.

An Ice Climbing Conditions report is available here.

Weather Summary

The Mountain Weather Forecast is available at Avalanche Canada https://avalanche.ca/weather/forecast

Saturday in the Icefields

A mix of sun and cloud. Alpine temperature: High -12 °C with mostly light ridge wind occasionally gusting to 35 km/h.

Sunday

A mix of sun and cloud. Alpine temperature: Low -14 °C, High -8 °C with ridge wind southwest: 10 km/h.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • Be careful with wind slabs, especially in steep, unsupported and/or convex terrain features.
  • Early season avalanches at any elevation have the potential to be particularly dangerous due to obstacles that are exposed or just below the surface.

Regions covered