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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Jan 27th, 2017–Jan 28th, 2017

Alpine
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Alpine
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Alpine
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.

Regions

Kananaskis.

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.

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.

Problems

Persistent Slabs

Persistent Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer of snow (a slab) in the middle to upper snowpack, when the bond to an underlying persistent weak layer breaks. Persistent layers include: surface hoar, depth hoar, near-surface facets, or faceted snow. Persistent weak layers can continue to produce avalanches for days, weeks or even months, making them especially dangerous and tricky. As additional snow and wind events build a thicker slab on top of the persistent weak layer, this avalanche problem may develop into a Deep Persistent Slab.

Deep Persistent Slabs

Deep Persistent Slab avalanches are the release of a thick cohesive layer of hard snow (a slab), when the bond breaks between the slab and an underlying persistent weak layer deep in the snowpack. The most common persistent weak layers involved in deep, persistent slabs are depth hoar or facets surrounding a deeply buried crust. Deep Persistent Slabs are typically hard to trigger, are very destructive and dangerous due to the large mass of snow involved, and can persist for months once developed. They are often triggered from areas where the snow is shallow and weak, and are particularly difficult to forecast for and manage.