Avalanche Forecast
Regions: Brazeau, Churchill, Cirrus-Wilson, Fryatt, Icefields, Jasper, Maligne, Marmot, Miette Lake, Pyramid.
Seek sheltered areas for the best skiing and beware of windslab in wind effected terrain.
Confidence
High
Avalanche Summary
No recent slab avalanche activity has been observed or reported.
Last week Marmot Basin triggered a size 2 avalanche failing on the deep basal layer using explosives. Several natural wind slab avalanches to size 2 as well as smaller loose dry avalanches were observed in the Icefields area on January 29th.
Snowpack Summary
Wind has redistributed the 10-15cm of recent snow. This sits on a variety of surfaces depending on location, including melt freeze crusts, sun crusts, hard wind slabs, and soft faceted snow. The midpack is generally weak and faceted. At the bottom of the snowpack are the early season crusts, which are faceting and surrounded by large depth hoar. The snowpack is 70-130 cm in depth at tree line, and thins quickly below.
Weather Summary
Wednesday
Mainly cloudy with isolated flurries (trace amounts). Alpine temperature: High -16 °C. Ridge wind west: 10 km/h.
Thursday
Cloudy with sunny periods and isolated flurries (trace amounts). Alpine temperature: Low -19 °C, High -15 °C. Light ridge wind.
Friday
A mix of sun and cloud with isolated flurries (trace amounts). Alpine temperature: Low -20 °C, High -16 °C. Ridge wind light to 15 km/h.
Terrain and Travel Advice
- Be mindful that deep instabilities are still present in the snowpack.
- If triggered, wind slabs avalanches may step down to deeper layers resulting in larger avalanches.
Avalanche Problems
Wind Slabs
Recent 10-20cm of new snow and winds formed windslabs in lee features particularly at ridgetops. They appear to be stubborn to trigger but be sure to assess this before entering wind effected terrain. Watch for windslabs on all aspects as winds have been variable in direction.
Aspects: All aspects.
Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.
Likelihood: Unlikely - Possible
Expected Size: 1 - 2.5
Deep Persistent Slabs
A variety of crusts with facets above and below exist at the bottom of the snowpack. These layers are going to be with us for a long time and pose a low probability, high consequence situation if triggered.
Aspects: All aspects.
Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.
Likelihood: Unlikely - Possible
Expected Size: 2 - 3