Plan your trip to avoid overhead cornice hazards and finish early.
Weather Forecast
Tuesday will bring sun and warm temperatures. Freezing level will rise to 2700m or higher by noon and stay there for most of the day. The weather models conflict for Wednesday's precipitation amount yet we remain hopeful. Temperatures will drop and the skies will be overcast.
Snowpack Summary
Pockets of wind slab are present in the upper alpine from previous strong winds last week yet largely unreactive. At treeline, lee aspects have a series of windslabs sandwiched with thin weaknesses in the upper snowpack. A strong midpack bridges over weak basal facets on Northerly aspects at treeline and above.
Avalanche Summary
Cornice failures to size 2.5 have occurred around the Icefields area on North to East aspects. They did not initiate a slab on the slopes below. Intense solar radiation will likely increase the cornice falls and initiate afternoon wet loose avalanche conditions on Tuesday.
Confidence
Timing, track, or intensity of incoming weather system is uncertain on Wednesday
Problems
Cornices
Cornice Fall is the release of an overhanging mass of snow that forms as the wind moves snow over a sharp terrain feature, such as a ridge, and deposits snow on the downwind (leeward) side. Cornices range in size from small wind drifts of soft snow to large overhangs of hard snow that are 30 feet (10 meters) or taller. They can break off the terrain suddenly and pull back onto the ridge top and catch people by surprise even on the flat ground above the slope. Even small cornices can have enough mass to be destructive and deadly. Cornice Fall can entrain loose surface snow or trigger slab avalanches.
Loose Wet
Loose Wet avalanches are the release of wet unconsolidated snow or slush. These avalanches typically occur within layers of wet snow near the surface of the snowpack, but they may quickly gouge into lower snowpack layers. Like Loose Dry Avalanches, they start at a point and entrain snow as they move downhill, forming a fan-shaped avalanche. Other names for loose-wet avalanches include point-release avalanches or sluffs. Loose Wet avalanches can trigger slab avalanches that break into deeper snow layers.