Lots of avalanches of different character today (loose dry, wind slabs, deep persistent), and although some were size 2.0, there was generally nothing really big. Conservative terrain choices will help avoid these problems.
Summary
Confidence
High -
Weather Forecast
Wednesday will be mostly cloudy with light flurries. Winds will be light to moderate from the NE and temperatures should climb to -9 by the afternoon. Very light flurries expected Thursday and Friday.
Avalanche Summary
Recent strong winds resulted in several loose dry avalanches up to size 2.0, primarily in very steep Alpine terrain on all aspects. In addition, the deep persistent layer of basal facets finally woke up and a size 2.0 naturally triggered slab occurred on the north end of Tent Bowl around midday today. This slide occurred at Treeline and was only about 40m wide, but was between 120 and 140cm deep and failed on the basal facets. Avalanche control today on EEOR resulted in another full depth avalanche that deposited large amounts of debris on HWY 742.
Snowpack Summary
Alpine and Treeline areas suffered some wind damage in the past 24 hours, and there are now fresh wind slabs in some of this terrain. Typical lee and cross-loaded features will have wind slabs, but reverse wind-loading can also be expected due to recent N and NW winds. The late February sun is now powerful enough to create sun crusts on some steep solar aspects, but cold temperatures have been reducing this somewhat. The mid pack has enough strength and depth (in most places) that triggering the bottom layers is becoming more difficult. The key to avoiding trouble is avoiding thin areas where the bridging is minimal.
jeremy.mackenzie,
Alberta Parks
