Avalanche Forecast

Issued: Jan 7th, 2016 7:44AM

The alpine rating is moderate, 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.

Some new snow out there today. 10cm has taken the edge off of old snow surfaces, but not enough to refresh the conditions completely.

Summary

Weather Forecast

Clouds clearing out as the day goes on. Maybe some minor residual flurries in the morning hours. The overnight low will be -15 at 2500m. Tomorrow's 2500m high will be -10. The winds will be 15km/hr from the NW.

Avalanche Summary

Some loose dry sluffs out of steep south terrain. Up to sz1. Likely because of a suncrust on those aspects.

Snowpack Summary

Some light snow overnight and today has left us with 7-10cm of new snow. This new snow will be resting on a variety of surfaces, including surface hoar, windslab, facets and a crust on solar aspects.. At the moment there isn't enough snow to present a serious avalanche problem, however loose dry avalanches may become a minor problem on south aspects. So far there has been very little wind to redistribute the new snow. The faceting that was prevalent last week has subsided with the snowpack actually gaining some strength back thanks to the warm temperatures. Below treeline the snowpack is still weak in some areas, but generally supportive. Snowdepths: Burstall Pass 105 & Mud Lake 83.

Problems

Wind Slabs

Watch for these in steep, thin areas in the alpine. There may be isolated pockets of windslabs near ridges and crossloaded gully features from the new snow.

Avoid lee and cross-loaded terrain near ridge crests.>

Aspects: All aspects.

Elevations: Alpine.

Likelihood

Unlikely - Possible

Expected Size

1 - 3

Loose Dry

Gully features are likely areas to encounter this problem. Climbers should be aware of this problem when considering climbs. South aspects are more prone to the problem because of the crust underneath.

Be very cautious with gully features.>Carry avalanche safety equipment on ice climbs in avalanche terrain.>

Aspects: All aspects.

Elevations: Alpine.

Likelihood

Likely

Expected Size

1 - 2

Valid until: Jan 8th, 2016 2:00PM