Avalanche forecast

Kananaskis

Jan 27 – 28, 2017Alberta Parks
View on map
Archived · expired 10 years ago

Avalanche danger

Sat
Sun
Alpine
2 · Moderate
Treeline
2 · Moderate
Below
1 · Low
Open full map

Highlights

Thin weak areas are the likely trigger points.  Good skiing was found on Friday above 2000m but we were in sheltered terrain and lower angle slopes.

Avalanche problems

  • Persistent Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Unlikely - Possible
    Size
    1–3
    If this layers if triggered, there is a likelihood of entraining the entire snowpack with it causing a large avalanche

  • Deep Persistent Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Unlikely - Possible
    Size
    2–3
    The big concern is that if anything gets triggered within the snowpack, then the entire snowpack would fail on the basal facets.

Confidence

High -

Weather Forecast

Mainly cloudy.Precipitation: Nil.Alpine temperature: Low -8 °C.Ridge wind west: 35 km/h.Freezing level at valley bottom.

Avalanche Summary

One sz 2 triggered from a cornice collapse on a N aspect.  This was observed over on Friday but most likely occurred earlier in the week.

Snowpack Summary

Wind affect in alpine areas, most noteable in the southern part of the forecast region. Snowpack is weak and facetted in most areas. Upper snowpack in alpine areas is able to bridge the facets but sticking to mellow terrain and not bigger features as weak areas are widespread. A few cornices have collapsed over the past week with these larger triggers waking up the deep persistent problems on underlying slopes up to sz 2.

Regions covered