Temperatures remain unseasonably warm. When the sun comes out, expect temperatures to spike and increasing the avalanche danger.
Weather Forecast
Sunday to Tuesday will be a mix of clouds, sun, and lite flurries. Temperatures will be slightly cooler on Sunday, warmer on Monday, then trending cooler after that. Freezing level will continue to hover around 1500m by mid-day.
Snowpack Summary
Hard wind slabs exist in exposed lee features yet appear to be bridging well. Mid-pack is faceted at lower elevations making for poor travel and difficult trail-breaking. Persistent hard slab and sastrugi widespread above treeline. Thin wind slabs are forming in immediate lee features with continuing moderate to strong SW to NW winds.
Avalanche Summary
Saturday had a couple loose sz 1's at valley bottom Coleman cliffs running to the highway shoulder. This was solar and warm air influenced. On Friday, a large cornice fell on 45+ degree east facing alpine slope and did not trigger any weakness. No other avalanches were observed on Friday's patrol Parkway, Whistler Creek and Maligne Road.
Confidence
Timing or intensity of solar radiation is uncertain
Problems
Wind Slabs
Wind Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer of snow (a slab) formed by the wind. Wind typically transports snow from the upwind sides of terrain features and deposits snow on the downwind side. Wind slabs are often smooth and rounded and sometimes sound hollow, and can range from soft to hard. Wind slabs that form over a persistent weak layer (surface hoar, depth hoar, or near-surface facets) may be termed Persistent Slabs or may develop into Persistent Slabs.