Avalanche forecast

Jasper

Feb 21 – 22, 2014Parks Canada
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Archived · expired 13 years ago

Avalanche danger

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

Pay attention to changes in the snow as you approach treeline and travel through the lower alpine where terrain features have slabs on their lee aspect.

Avalanche problems

  • Wind Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Unlikely - Possible
    Size
    1–2
    Lee aspects of ridgetops and terrain features should be carefully evaluated for windslabs.

  • Persistent Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Unlikely - Possible
    Size
    2–3
    This persistent weak layer consists of facets and surface hoar that were covered. It sits on a mixture of crusts and firm supportive snow. This seems to be of most concern at the Treeline and lower alpine elevations between 2000m and 2400m.

Weather Forecast

Light snow flurries may sporadically spread 5 - 10cm over the forecast area overnight. Cloudy skies and occasional flurries will continue through the weekend with a clearing trend beginning on Monday. This could arrive earlier or stall for a few extra days of clouds.

Snowpack Summary

Light snow flurries overnight did not add much load to the snowpack. There is about 30cm overtop of the Feb 10 interface which has surface facets and surface hoar from the previous cold weather. This seems to be most prevalent from treeline into the lower alpine elevations. Below tree line there is a supportive yet shallow mid-pack over facets.

Avalanche Summary

No new natural avalanches were observed in the icefields area today. Wednesday's patrol in the Maligne area produced a size 2 slab that was :35m wide, 60m long, on a NE aspect 38 degree slope just above treeline on the Feb 10 surface hoar/facet layer. Stability tests showed moderate sudden planar/sudden collapse on this layer.

Confidence

Regions covered