Avalanche Forecast

Moderate - The snowpack structure is generally well understood.

Monday night: Light flurries bringing trace amounts of new snow with moderate southwest winds. Low of -7 at 2000 m.

TUESDAY: Mostly cloudy with flurries bringing trace amounts of new snow and light to moderate west winds. Freezing level around 1700 m.

Wednesday: Sunny with no new snow expected. Light west winds and freezing levels around 1900 m.

Thursday: Sunny with no new snow expected. Moderate southwest winds and freezing levels rising to 2500 m.

On Monday ski cutting produced size one wind slab avalanches in steep terrain. Several size one natural dry loose avalanches were also observed in steep unskiable terrain.

Wind slabs exist in exposed terrain in the treeline and alpine on northerly aspects. A crust exists on or near the surface on all aspects as high as 2500 m. This crust will become moist at lower elevations as the freezing level rises. Multiple crusts exist on solar aspects.

Cornices have been observed throughout the region. Best practice is to limit time traveling on slopes below these hazards.

A thick rain crust with facets above from early December is buried around 150 cm deep. Large avalanches were naturally triggered on this layer during the most recent warm temperatures in western terrain near the Bugaboos. Continued avalanche activity on this layer is unlikely with cooler temperatures forecast. 

• Stay off recently wind loaded slopes until they have had a chance to stabilize.
• Wind slabs may be poorly bonded to the underlying crust.