Regions
Banff Yoho Kootenay.
Avalanche Control planned for Thursday for the Sunshine Ski Area access road paths. Please no climbing or skiing in this area. LP
Weather Forecast
Winds taper tonight and will be light westerly with very light precipitation, if any, for next couple of days. Mid mountain temperatures will be cooler (-12C for highs and overnight lows of -20C).
Snowpack Summary
Over the past 8 days we've received up to 66 cm (Sunshine region), less East of the divide. We've been hammered by very strong SSW winds leaving widespread soft and hard surface slabs in it's wake, particularly on the E. side of the divide. The Nov crust in the bottom third of the snowpack remains concern, especially after the recent load of snow.
Avalanche Summary
Surprisingly little slab activity reported or observed today. Some storm soft slabs to size 2 were reported along HWY 93 N. A size 2 came off Bourgeau Left ice climb yesterday evening and again today.
Confidence
Due to the number of field observations
Problems
Wind Slabs
Wind Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer of snow (a slab) formed by the wind. Wind typically transports snow from the upwind sides of terrain features and deposits snow on the downwind side. Wind slabs are often smooth and rounded and sometimes sound hollow, and can range from soft to hard. Wind slabs that form over a persistent weak layer (surface hoar, depth hoar, or near-surface facets) may be termed Persistent Slabs or may develop into Persistent Slabs.
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.