Avalanche forecast

Banff Yoho Kootenay

Dec 18 – 19, 2015Parks Canada
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Archived · expired 11 years ago

Avalanche danger

Fri
Sat
Alpine
1 · Low
Treeline
1 · Low
Below
2 · Moderate
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Highlights

We should get a small storm on Friday which will refresh ski conditions, but not enough to change the avalanche danger greatly. Remain vigilant with routefinding below treeline where the Dec. 3rd Surface Hoar may be lurking!

Avalanche problems

  • Persistent Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Unlikely
    Size
    1–2
    A 30-40cm soft slab sits over the Dec 3rd surface hoar in an elevation band between 1700 and 2150m. This slab has facetted out in many areas, but watch out in areas where previous wind may have formed a denser slab above this layer.

Weather Forecast

The ridge of high pressure will start to break down Friday morning. Friday afternoon into Saturday morning, a system will dump 5-10 cm at upper elevations with winds switching to moderate from the SW and freezing levels staying at valley bottom. Saturday and Sunday will be partly cloudy with light precipitation and light west winds.

Snowpack Summary

In sheltered terrain between 1700 and 2150m, 30-40 cm of facetted snow sits over the December 3rd surface hoar. Easy to moderate shears found on this interface. No other significant shears have been observed in the snowpack. There is approximately 1 meter of snow at treeline,

Avalanche Summary

No new avalanches observed in the last few days.

Confidence

Due to the number and quality of field observations

Regions covered