Regions
Banff Yoho Kootenay.
Ice climbing conditions are generally good. Ski conditions are less than ideal until we get more snow. There may be an increase in hazard this weekend with an incoming system. SH
Weather Forecast
Very light snow Friday with light to moderate westerly alpine winds. Freezing levels to valley bottom. Snow is still forecast for Sunday, but we'll see how much we really end up with.
Snowpack Summary
On lee features in the alpine the snowpack consists of wind slabs over a weak mid-pack with a very weak base of facets. The Oct 27 crust on N-NE aspects is breaking down, but is still a sliding layer near ground. On average at treeline there is 70 cm of snow, barely blanketing the rocks and stumps.
Avalanche Summary
No new avalanche activity over the last 24 hours.
Confidence
Due to the quality of field observations on Thursday
Problems
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.