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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Jan 5th, 2025–Jan 6th, 2025

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.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.

Regions

Kootenay Boundary, Bonnington, Grohman, Kootenay Pass, Norns, Rossland, Ymir.

Avoid features with dense, hollow sounding snow - wind slabs may remain triggerable.

Head to sheltered areas for the best riding.

Confidence

Moderate

Avalanche Summary

Rapid wind loading on Friday produced slabs reactive to riders. On Saturday explosive control work produced slabs up to size 2. While winds have varied, avalanche activity has been noted on all aspects except east.

On Wednesday size 2 to 2.5 persistent slab avalanches were rider triggered, on north aspects around 2200 m. Check out this MIN report for further details from near Rossland (photo below).

Snowpack Summary

Strong easterly winds have stripped and scoured open features, forming dense, wind affected deposits of snow. In sheltered areas, 30 to 50 cm of settling snow exists. Check out this great MIN report from Kootenay Pass.

Below, a thin crust or layer of surface hoar can be found. Reactivity to riders has been noted in areas where the surface hoar is preserved.

Weak layers of surface hoar or facets and a crust continue to persist in the mid-snowpack and can be found down between 50 and 120 cm.

The lower snowpack is generally strong and well-bonded.

Check out this video on State of the snowpack for further details.

Weather Summary

Sunday Night

Clearing skies with 20 to 30 km/h northerly ridgetop wind. Treeline temperatures remain around -8 °C overnight.

Monday

Clear skies with 20 to 30 km/h northerly ridgetop wind. Treeline temperatures around -3 °C.

Tuesday

Increasing cloud. 10 to 20 km/h westerly ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -3 °C.

Wednesday

Partly cloudy with 20 to 40 km/h northwest ridgetop wind. Up to 5 cm of snow possible. Treeline temperatures around -3 °C.

If you head out in the backcountry, let us know what you are seeing by submitting a MIN report!

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • Recent wind has varied in direction, so watch for wind slabs on all aspects.
  • Expect slab conditions to change drastically as you move into wind-exposed terrain.
  • The best and safest riding will be on slopes that have soft snow without any slab properties.

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.

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.