Avalanche Forecast
Regions: Bull, Crowsnest North, Crowsnest South, Elkford East, Elkford West, South Rockies.
Freshly formed wind slabs may be reactive in the alpine and at treeline. Weaker layers can still be found further down in the snowpack.
Keep your terrain choices conservative and assess conditions as you travel and you should be able to enjoy the new snow.
Confidence
Low
Avalanche Summary
No new avalanches reported in the area. This could be due to a lack of observations. If you head into the backcountry, support your community by submitting a report to the Mountain Information Network.
Snowpack Summary
Up to 10 cm fell Thursday night. It came with moderate to strong westerly winds and is expected to form fresh wind slabs. The new snow and new wind slabs are covering a variety of surfaces, mainly older wind slabs. These were made by winds produced from all directions. It is expected that the wind has built wind slabs upon wind slabs in some areas while in other areas the wind will have stripped away the majority of the snow.
Where the wind had less of an impact on the snow you can expect to find around 10 to 20 cm of soft snow sitting on 30 to 40 cm of more settled snow. Buried 45 to 65 cm down lies a weak layer comprising of surface hoar and facets. This layer has been shown to be reactive in snowpack tests. Further down the snow is sugary and faceted with a rain crust near the ground but this lower snowpack appears to be consolidating.
Total snowpack depths at treeline elevations are 75 to 145 cm.
Weather Summary
Friday Night
Cloudy with some clearing, 2 to 4 cm accumulation, winds southwest 15 to 20 km/h, freezing level to the valley bottom.
Saturday
Cloudy with some sunny periods, 2 cm accumulation, winds southwest 15 km/h gusting to 30, freezing level to 800 m.
Sunday
Mostly cloudy, up to 7 cm accumulation, winds east 10 km/h, freezing level to 500 m.
Monday
Cloudy with sunny periods, trace accumulation, winds northeast 10 km/h, freezing level to valley bottom.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
Terrain and Travel Advice
- Back off if you encounter whumpfing, hollow sounds, or shooting cracks.
- If triggered, wind slabs avalanches may step down to deeper layers resulting in larger avalanches.
- Watch for newly formed and reactive wind slabs as you transition into wind affected terrain.
Avalanche Problems
Wind Slabs
Fresh and reactive slabs on leeward slopes at upper elevations now sit on older wind slabs.
Small avalanches may trigger a bigger avalanche by 'stepping down' to the weak and faceted crystals buried deeper within the snowpack.
Aspects: North, North East, East, South East, South.
Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.
Likelihood: Possible
Expected Size: 1 - 2
Persistent Slabs
Buried layers of surface hoar and facets exist 50 to 75 cm down and are showing reactivity in snowpack tests. Avalanches on this layer are possible where a cohesive slab exists above it. This layer could be triggered by a heavy load caused by a rider in a shallow snow area or by the weight of a smaller avalanche.
Aspects: All aspects.
Elevations: All elevations.
Likelihood: Unlikely - Possible
Expected Size: 1.5 - 2.5