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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Nov 21st, 2023–Nov 23rd, 2023

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

Regions

Kananaskis, Bow Valley, Highwood Pass, North 40, Spray - KLakes.

Strong winds over the past few days have created a dense slab overlying either a crust or weak facetted crystals near the ground. Lee slopes (N and E aspects) and gullies are good examples of places wherein you may encounter these problems. Human triggering of this problem is still possible.

Confidence

Low

Avalanche Summary

Nothing new has been noted in the last couple of days but still lots of older signs of avalanche activity. Some lee areas that released last week are already reloaded.

Snowpack Summary

We have about 20cm of snow in the valley bottom and 40-70cm at treeline and above. Variability in snow amounts is the theme here but generally not enough to ski yet. Lee features and cross loaded gullies will have the most snow but are also areas of concern for triggering slab avalanches. As a very general summary, we have 3 layers: sugary facets on the ground, a thin intermittent crust and a persistent slab in wind prone areas. If you're at all experienced in the Rockies, you'll simply know this as a classic early season snowpack!

Weather Summary

Cooler temperatures are moving back into the region overnight on Wednesday with light northwesterly winds and some light flurries. Wednesday night and into thursday we will see up to 10cm of snow as winds continue to shift around to the northeast.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • Be carefull with sluffing in steep terrain, especially above cliffs and terrain traps.
  • Avoid lee and cross-loaded terrain.
  • Watch for newly formed and reactive wind slabs as you transition into wind affected terrain.
  • Avoid terrain traps where the consequence of any avalanche could be serious.

Problems

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.