Regions
Banff Yoho Kootenay.
Heads up to ice climbers and steep skiiers: the danger may be elevated in steep terrain and gully features, especially on solar aspects if the sun is out. Loose dry snow is sluffing fast and far and can knock you off or bury you in a terrain trap!
Weather Forecast
Alpine temps will be in the -5 to -10 range for the next three days. There may be some lingering cold air in the valley, so watch for the potential for an inversion, but the forecasts aren't calling for anything extreme. Winds will be generally light from the SW, increasing by the weekend. Friday and Saturday look to be overcast with light snow
Snowpack Summary
The surface snow is a mix of soft powder and wind effect in alpine areas. The recent cold temperatures have weakened the upper half of the snowpack, and several weak layers exist in the top 60 cm. The most reactive of these are thin hard windslabs in exposed alpine terrain. The loose surface snow will run far when even a small avalanche starts.
Avalanche Summary
Loose avalanches were running far on steep rocky solar terrain today. Warm temps and sun were the trigger, and these were generally small (up to size 1.5) but big enough to knock a climber off their feet or bury them in a terrain trap. A larger loose dry avalanche that wasn't solar triggered was reported on Heineken Hall ice climb
Confidence
Due to the number of field observations
Problems
Loose Dry
Loose Dry avalanches are the release of dry unconsolidated snow and typically occur within layers of soft snow near the surface of the snowpack. These avalanches start at a point and entrain snow as they move downhill, forming a fan-shaped avalanche. Other names for loose-dry avalanches include point-release avalanches or sluffs.
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.