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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Jan 18th, 2023–Jan 19th, 2023

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

Banff Yoho Kootenay, Little Yoho, Banff, East Side 93N, Kootenay, Lake Louise, LLSA, Sunshine, West Side 93N, Field.

Good skiing can be found on low-angled terrain above treeline. The snowpack remains generally shallow and weak, a little less so to the West. Do not lose sight of the unpredictable nature of the deep persistent slab problem even though conditions appear to have improved.

Confidence

Moderate

Avalanche Summary

A few small surface avalanches triggered by explosives were reported by Lake Louise and Sunshine patrol on Wednesday. Tuesday, a Sunshine patroller triggered a size 2 deep persistent slab while skiing the slope after getting no result with explosives. No burial or injuries.

Snowpack Summary

Flurries over the last 10 days total to roughly 10cm settled, with little wind effect. The Dec 17 surface hoar/sun crust layer is visible down 25-50 cm, but generally not reactive. The Nov 16 deep persistent layer is down 40-90 cm and continues to produce sudden failures in snowpack tests. In Little Yoho, these two layers are deeper and more spread apart in the snowpack.

Weather Summary

Thursday morning flurries, bringing 2-4 cm, will taper through the day as skies clear with the passage of an upper trough. Winds will be 20-40 km/hr and alpine temperatures will rise to near -5C. Thursday night temperatures fall to -10 to -15C. Skies clear for Friday.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • Uncertainty is best managed through conservative terrain choices at this time.

Problems

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.