Avalanche forecast

Jasper

Feb 11 – 12, 2019Parks Canada
View on map
Archived · expired 8 years ago

Avalanche danger

Tue
Wed
Alpine
2 · Moderate
Treeline
2 · Moderate
Below
2 · Moderate
Open full map

Highlights

Remember a Moderate rating still means human triggering remains possible. A thick supportive mid-pack is critical to safe travel. Shallow snowpack areas are more prone to trigger. Ice climbers must be vigilant for loose dry avalanches in gullies.

Avalanche problems

  • Loose Dry

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible - Likely
    Size
    1–1.5
    Expect sluffing out of steep rocky terrain. Cold temperatures will loosen the surface snow to the point where it loses structure and avalanches as a point release. They can pick up enough mass to be a concern.

  • Deep Persistent Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible
    Size
    1.5–3.5
    Just a reminder, this is still present and can still be triggered from shallow snowpack areas. See avalanche activity summary.

Weather Forecast

Monday will be a mix of sun and cloud, no precipitation, alpine temperatures high -15 C, and light ridge winds. Tuesday will be sunny periods with isolated flurries, trace precipitation, alpine temperature low -22 C and high -14 C with light ridge winds. A detailed mountain weather forecast is available from Avalanche Canada.

Snowpack Summary

50cm from Feb 2nd was followed by strong N winds and cold temperatures. This snow overlies a dormant but persistent weakness of surface hoar, crusts, and/or facets. Cold temps have weakened the structure of the slab over this layer and it's generally dormant, for now. A basal depth hoar weakness exists especially shallow areas.

Avalanche Summary

A flight from Jasper to Kinbasket lake on Sunday observed very little new activity. A natural slab avalanche (Sz 2.5) was observed on a NW aspect, 2400m above Maligne Lake on Saturday.On Feb 7th, a size 2 deep persistent slab was triggered by skiers in the Maligne area on a W aspect, 1950m, on a 30 degree slope.

Confidence

Regions covered