Avalanche Forecast
Regions: East Kakwa, Kakwa, McGregor, North Rockies, Pine Pass, Sugarbowl, Tumbler.
Continue to practice safe travel habits in the backcountry.
Confidence
High
Avalanche Summary
Small loose wet avalanches and sluffing within recent snow were observed on Thursday.
Please consider submitting your observations to the MIN if you head to the backcountry.
Snowpack Summary
5 to 20 cm of recent snow sits on a hard melt-freeze crust except for shady high alpine slopes, where it sits on faceted snow over a hard crust. Thicker deposits may exist in lee terrain features near mountain tops. The snow surface on sun-exposed slopes may moisten if sunny skies prevail and freeze into a crust overnight.
A layer of weak faceted grains above a hard crust that formed in early February is buried about 50 to 110 cm deep. This layer is currently dormant.
Weather Summary
Friday Night
Clear skies. 20 to 30 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -7 °C.
Saturday
Mostly cloudy. 20 to 40 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -3 °C. Freezing level 1400 m.
Sunday
Mostly cloudy with 1 to 3 cm of snow. 40 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature 1 °C. Freezing level 1800 m.
Monday
Increasing clouds with 1 to 3 cm of snow. 20 to 40 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature 1 °C. Freezing level 1800 m.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
Terrain and Travel Advice
- Avoid shallow, rocky areas where the snowpack transitions from thick to thin.
Avalanche Problems
Wind Slabs
Isolated pockets of wind slab may exist in steep terrain features immediately adjacent to ridges.
Aspects: All aspects.
Elevations: Alpine.
Likelihood: Unlikely - Possible
Expected Size: 1 - 1.5