Avalanche forecast

Kootenay Boundary

Jan 13 – 14, 2015Avalanche Canada
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Avalanche danger

Thu
Fri
Alpine
2 · Moderate
Treeline
2 · Moderate
Below
2 · Moderate
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Highlights

Obvious signs of avalanche conditions have decreased, but surprisingly large avalanches are still possible.

Avalanche problems

  • Persistent Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible
    Size
    3–6
    Persistent slabs can still be triggered by a person in the right spot. These could be surprisingly large. Overall the chances of triggering have dropped, but consequences remain high.

Confidence

Fair

Weather Forecast

A layer of warm air aloft will create warm alpine temperatures. Light amounts of precipitation are expected on Thursday night/ Friday. SW winds strengthen on Friday.

Avalanche Summary

On Saturday, skiers triggered numerous persistent slab avalanches to size 2 in the north of the region, in some cases remotely from a distance of 10m. On Sunday, a couple of persistent slab avalanches in the size 2.5 range were triggered between 2100 and 2300m from a distance of up to 100m. Avalanche activity has slowed, but there is still the potential for human-triggering of large avalanches, especially from areas where the snowpack transitions from thick to thin.

Snowpack Summary

Large surface hoar crystals are growing on the snow surface. Underneath this a thin frozen crust exists up to about 1900m. Our main concern continues to be a crust/surface hoar combo buried in mid-December. This touchy layer is 60-120cm down and has the potential to be triggered by people and produce surprisingly large avalanches. A facet/crust layer near the base of the snowpack has mostly been dormant, apart from recent activity in the Bonnington Range which suggests it may still be reactive in isolated terrain.

Regions covered