Avalanche Forecast

Issued: Jan 13th, 2016 7:05AM

The alpine rating is low, the treeline rating is low, and the below treeline rating is low. Known problems include Wind Slabs and Loose Dry.

matt.mueller, Alberta Parks

Kananaskis.

Yesterday we had winds...today we had winds and warmer temps. This combo may have built small windslabs near ridges. Inspect lee terrain before commiting to it.

Summary

Confidence

High

Weather Forecast

Mainly cloudy with isolated flurries. Trace amounts of snow from some light flurries in the morning. The alpine will reach -8 with Westerly winds gusting to 40km/hr.

Avalanche Summary

There are still occasional loose dry sluffs out of very steep alpine terrain.

Snowpack Summary

Warmer air has done little to help with the facetted, weak snowpack we now suffer from. Below treeline the snowpack has some structure left near the bottom, but the surface is still very weak. Ski penetration averages 20-30cm in open terrain with a total snow depth of 70-90cm's. Treeline is a similar story, except with a deeper snowpack. The alpine has seen some wind(from the NW) transport over the last couple of days, so isolated windslabs may be present near immediate lees. Burstall Pass has 105cm & Mud lake has 80cm on the ground.

Problems

Wind Slabs

The ongoing winds and warmer temps have possibly created new windslabs in immediate lee areas. These are expected to be small and isolated and on E to S aspects in the alpine.

Avoid freshly wind loaded features.>Caution in lee and cross-loaded terrain near ridge crests.>

Aspects: North, North East, East, South East, South, South West.

Elevations: Alpine.

Likelihood

Unlikely - Possible

Expected Size

1 - 3

Loose Dry

These are still lingering. The wind is moving enough snow reload steep, lee alpine features. Caution in steep gully features.

Be very cautious with gully features.>

Aspects: All aspects.

Elevations: Alpine.

Likelihood

Possible

Expected Size

1 - 3

Valid until: Jan 14th, 2016 2:00PM