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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Mar 17th, 2025–Mar 18th, 2025

Alpine
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Alpine
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Alpine
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.

Regions

Glacier.

The Spring-time sunshine is strong. It doesn't take long for solar slopes to become unstable in direct sun.

Keep in the back of your mind that Persistent Weak Layers are still within human-triggering depths.

This being said, convective snow cells with light winds have freshened up the slopes nicely. Enjoy, but don't get too greedy!

Confidence

Moderate

Avalanche Summary

Natural avalanche activity has tapered from over the weekend, with few new avalanches observed in the highway corridor.

Field teams have been able to initiate loose/dry surface sluffing to sz 1 in steep, north-facing Treeline terrain.

A skier reported loose debris from steep terrain on Balu Peak running onto the slope below, triggering a sz 2 slab.

On Sat, a skier triggered a sz 2 storm slab in Frequent Flyer, with the debris almost hitting the skin track.

Snowpack Summary

Up to 40cm of new snow has fallen since the big storm March 8/9. This new snow has been redistributed by strong SW winds. The March 5th interface exists down 50-100cm as a crust &/or surface hoar (3-10mm, largest in the alpine).

Two persistent weak layers (PWL) of heavily facetted snow from cold temps in Jan/Feb are now buried 120-160cm deep.

Weather Summary

A brief ridge sets up Tues, but back to clouds/flurries for the rest of the week.

Tonight Clearing. Alpine low -11°C. Ridge wind W 20km/hr. Freezing Level (FZL) valley bottom.

Tues Mix of sun/cloud. Alp high -11°C. W wind 20km/hr. FZL 800m.

Wed Sun, cloud, isolated flurries, trace snow. Alpine high -8°C. Wind SW 25km/h. FZL 1300m.

Thurs Cloudy, scattered flurries, 5cm. Alpine high -7°C. Wind SW 25km/h. FZL 1400m.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • If triggered, wind slabs avalanches may step down to deeper layers resulting in larger avalanches.
  • Loose avalanches may step down to deeper layers, resulting in larger avalanches.

Problems

Wind Slabs

Wind Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer of snow (a slab) formed by the wind. Wind typically transports snow from the upwind sides of terrain features and deposits snow on the downwind side. Wind slabs are often smooth and rounded and sometimes sound hollow, and can range from soft to hard. Wind slabs that form over a persistent weak layer (surface hoar, depth hoar, or near-surface facets) may be termed Persistent Slabs or may develop into Persistent Slabs.

Persistent Slabs

Persistent Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer of snow (a slab) in the middle to upper snowpack, when the bond to an underlying persistent weak layer breaks. Persistent layers include: surface hoar, depth hoar, near-surface facets, or faceted snow. Persistent weak layers can continue to produce avalanches for days, weeks or even months, making them especially dangerous and tricky. As additional snow and wind events build a thicker slab on top of the persistent weak layer, this avalanche problem may develop into a Deep Persistent Slab.