Kananaskis

Windslabs are widespread in alpine areas even down into treeline. Watch for cracking and a dummy hollow sound as you move into wind affected terrain.

Nothing seen today.

Windslabs are the dominant feature in the snowpack right now. Most open areas have touched by the windsso expect to encounter drummy windslabs in these areas. Up to treeline, expect to encounter a rain crust down 20-30cm that formed in an early December storm. So far failures on this crust have been few, but as it develops we expect this layer to become a common bed surface for avalanches. A surface hoar layer is also found up to treeline beneath this crust that was producing moderate results in snowpack tests. Deeper in the snowpack a weak basal layer persists that was a thin melt freeze crust in some areas, or just weak basal facets and depth hoar. Thin areas are still common places to trigger these windslabs which are likely to propagate across a feature so keep this in mind as you travel.

Sunday winds will continue out of the W moderate to strong with freezing levels at the valley bottom. No new snow for the next few days! Expect temperatures around -5C.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

• Watch for newly formed and reactive wind slabs as you transition into wind affected terrain.
• Approach lee and cross-loaded slopes with caution.
• Avoid rock outcroppings, convexities, and anywhere the snowpack is thin and/or variable.