Avalanche Forecast
Regions: Little Yoho.
Great skiing conditions with the recent snow! Watch for storm slab development in steep terrain as the new snow settles, especially in areas with a buried sun crust, and minimize exposure to cornices where possible.
Weather Forecast
A high pressure system will dominate the landscape on Monday with mainly sunny skies for all areas. Alpine winds will be out of the the west at 40-60 km/h. Alpine temperatures stay in the -12 to -15'C range while valley bottoms will warm to near freezing during the afternoon. Winds and temperatures will increase on Tuesday.
Snowpack Summary
5-10cm of snow Saturday night with light winds. Buried wind slabs are present in alpine lee areas. New sun crusts exist on steep solar aspects. 40-50 cm of recent snow over the Feb 29 crust interface on steep solar aspects. The buried Feb 1 crust is present up to 1900m. Generally this area has a deep dense snowpack, with over 300 cm in the alpine.
Avalanche Summary
Avalanche control on Sunday produced limited results with a few avalanches up to size 2.5 and several areas with no results. Cornice control resulted in small storm slabs on the slopes below. Several small natural storm slab avalanches observed in steep terrain. Two skiers triggered a reloaded deep persistent size 1.5 in Lippalian 3 at Lake Louise.
Confidence
Intensity of incoming weather systems is uncertain on Tuesday
Avalanche Problems
Storm Slabs
Use caution when entering steep terrain. New storm slabs, and buried wind slabs exist in lee areas of the alpine and treeline. In steep solar terrain these may be sitting on a sun crust. Cornice exposure should be minimized due to recent growth.
- Be careful with wind loaded pockets, especially near ridge crests and roll-overs.
- The storm slab may be more sensitive to human triggering on solar aspects where it sits on a crust
Aspects: All aspects.
Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.
Likelihood: Possible
Expected Size: 1 - 2.5