Regions
Banff Yoho Kootenay.
It is a great time to be in the alpine! Enjoy the good weather and low danger while it lasts. If you are getting into more aggressive terrain, be mindful of the potential for cornice failures and snow mushroom collapses as the temps fluctuate.
Weather Forecast
The drought continues. No precipitation expected in the forecast period. Temperatures are generally cold overnight (-20 to -25) and warming up to reasonable during the day (-5 to -10). We should see a gradual warming trend through the week. Winds have been light and are expected to stay light until Thurs when they will switch to moderate from the W
Snowpack Summary
Surface facetting has softened up old surfaces in the alpine making for good skiing in sheltered locations. Isolated windslabs exist in the alpine but are unreactive. The midpack is well settled, but the weak facets persist at the base of the snowpack. Suncrusts exist on solar aspects and temperature crusts exist on all aspects below 1900m.
Avalanche Summary
No new avalanches reported or observed today.
Confidence
Due to the number and quality of field observations
Problems
Deep Persistent Slabs
Deep Persistent Slab avalanches are the release of a thick cohesive layer of hard snow (a slab), when the bond breaks between the slab and an underlying persistent weak layer deep in the snowpack. The most common persistent weak layers involved in deep, persistent slabs are depth hoar or facets surrounding a deeply buried crust. Deep Persistent Slabs are typically hard to trigger, are very destructive and dangerous due to the large mass of snow involved, and can persist for months once developed. They are often triggered from areas where the snow is shallow and weak, and are particularly difficult to forecast for and manage.