Avalanche Forecast
Regions: Little Yoho.
Sustained winds along with new snow will keep the alpine hazard elevated. Limit your exposure to overhead hazards like cornices.
Great skiing in sheltered areas
Weather Forecast
Mainly cloudy on Sunday with isolated flurries, West winds gusting up to 60 km/hr and an alpine high of -12. Continued strong winds on Monday into Tuesday with small amounts of snow forecasted.
Snowpack Summary
10-20 cm of new snow with moderate SW winds forming new wind slab in the alpine down to tree line. Watch for buried sun crust on steep solar aspects. The Feb 1 rain crust is down 30-60 cm and present below 1900 m. Generally this area has a strong snowpack, with snow depths over 300 cm in the alpine.
Avalanche Summary
Large cornice failures reported on Friday from the Crowfoot Glacier area, some of which pulled pockets of wind slab on the slopes below.
Suspect some natural avalanche activity on Saturday with recent snow and wind inputs, but no new observations due to poor visibility.
Confidence
Avalanche Problems
Wind Slabs
New wind slab development in the alpine and exposed areas at tree line. Expect these to be reactive to human triggering in the immediate lee of terrain features and in steep gullies.
- Be careful with wind loaded pockets while approaching and climbing ice routes.
- Be careful with wind loaded pockets, especially near ridge crests and roll-overs.
Aspects: All aspects.
Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.
Likelihood: Possible - Likely
Expected Size: 1 - 2