Avalanche forecast

Banff Yoho Kootenay

Mar 21 – 22, 2018Parks Canada
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Archived · expired 9 years ago

Avalanche danger

Fri
Sat
Alpine
2 · Moderate
Treeline
1 · Low
Below
1 · Low
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Highlights

Not quite spring "Low", main concerns are deeper facets in thin areas, buried sun crust on solar aspects, and wind slab in lees. Generally great skiing can be found on North aspects.

Avalanche problems

  • Wind Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible
    Size
    1–2
    Localized winds have created slabs up to 30 cm thick in some drainages, in other areas they are much thinner and restricted to the immediate lees. They are unlikely to release naturally but can be triggered by skiers and climbers.

  • Persistent Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible
    Size
    1–2.5
    On steep solar terrain the recent storm snow (10-30cm) is sitting on a suncrust.  In thinner areas the have been 2 avalanches on deeper facet layers. These problems tricky due to their isolated nature - caution on solar aspects and in thin areas.

Weather Forecast

The unsettled weather continues again on Thursday generally cloudy with flurries moving into the region Thursday night.  Flurries will continue through to Saturday with accumulations ranging from 10-15 cm..  Friday might be the snowiest day this week and temperatures are forecast to fall below -15 for the start of the weekend.

Snowpack Summary

Convective flurries have deposited new snow in some areas of the park and not so much in others, so the surface conditions are quite variable. Localized windslabs were created earlier in the week and have been reactive. On south and west aspects these slabs may bond poorly to a suncrust down approximately 30-50 cm.

Avalanche Summary

A size 1 windslab was triggered by skiers on a classic leeward slope under a cornice Tuesday - 25 cm deep by 50 m wide. Several large avalanches were triggered earlier in the week. The common theme has been West aspect on suncrust (Amiskwi area - W. of Yoho).  In thin areas, the Observation Peak avalanche, released on a deeper layers.

Confidence

Regions covered