Avalanche Forecast

A strong ridge of high pressure is settling into the region and the next 5 days look to be sunny and warm. Spring is here! Expect highs over the next few days between 5 and 10 degrees, and freezing levels will hit 2300m on Friday. Winds will generally be light at treeline, but will continue to smoke along between 35-60 km/hr at high elevations.

Last 5 days of storm snow totalled 35cm at Bow Summit, 49 cm at Lake Louise and 32cm at Sunshine. Strong winds have blown this snow into windslabs at treeline and above, and now the solar influence will weaken the snowpack structure in the afternoon. Cornices are a major concern (see avalanche activity) and seem to be waking up the deep facets.

A large (size 3) slab avalanche triggered by a cornice fall was observed on the Simpson Ridge, beyond the Sunshine backcountry. Also, a pair of skiers triggered a size 2 avalanche on the obviously windloaded roll to the north of Quartz Ridge - this one could have been predicted as that is a fat, convex roll. Generally the wind kept the snow cool.