Avalanche Forecast
Issued: Dec 3rd, 2014 8:00AM
The alpine rating is , the treeline rating is , and the below treeline rating is Known problems include Persistent Slabs.
danyelle magnan,
Parks Canada
Continue to be cautious and conservative in your terrain selection. Conditions vary and touchy layers exist in many areas.
Summary
Weather Forecast
Today is forecast to be mostly clear but with a few flurries, light to moderate NW winds at ridgetop, and a high of -8'C. Thursday will be similar but slightly warmer with temps to -5'C. By Friday a moist and warm system will bring clouds and flurries. ~6cm of snow is forecast with freezing levels around 1500m.
Snowpack Summary
Cold temps have tightened up the wet slab for now but are also weakening the snowpack over time. Snowpack tests on two touchy weak layers (a variety of surface hoar, crusts and facets) buried down ~100 and ~130cm continue to indicate the may be triggered by skiers and produce very large avalanches. A hard rain crust exists below ~1600m.
Avalanche Summary
No new avalanches have been observed over the past 3 days. Prior to the cold snap, a widespread avalanche cycle occurred. Large avalanches, with wide propagations, demonstrated the potential of buried weak layers. Some areas have not yet avalanched, for example the Frequent Flyer path up the Connaught Drainage.
Confidence
Due to the number of field observations
Problems
Persistent Slabs
Persistent weak layers buried down ~1m and ~1.3m are cause for concern. They are capable of producing very large avalanches and may be triggered by skiers. As temperatures warm over the next few days the likelihood of triggering will increase.
Be wary of slopes that did not previously avalanche - even on low angle terrain.Be aware of thin areas that may propogate to deeper instabilites.
Aspects: All aspects.
Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.
Likelihood
Expected Size
Valid until: Dec 4th, 2014 8:00AM
