There may still be small, isolated pockets of windslab at treeline. As you approach wind effected areas anticipate a change in the feel of the snowpack.
Summary
Confidence
Moderate - Wind speed and direction is uncertain on Monday
Weather Forecast
Another day similar to today. Mostly clear skies with cold temps. Overnight we'll see about -25 as a low. The forecast says we'll get -19 as a high but the pattern suggests it will be colder. Alpine winds will be increasing and be around 40km/hr from the west. Needless to say, we will not get any snow tomorrow.
Avalanche Summary
Several loose dry avalanches were noted in extreme alpine terrain. On average they were sz 1 and did not run very far.
Snowpack Summary
Today's adventure was to Murray Moraines. This area holds cold air and tends to be a known area for a weak snowpack. Below treeline, the story is the same as always- get out of there ASAP! Treeline is where we start to see a significant change in the snowpack depth and quality. The majority of areas at treeline have a consistently thick layer of facets above the crust. The older windslabs that were everywhere earlier in the month have rotted out and become less of a problem. The exception is in areas that had seen severe windloading. Any area that had a hard slab prior ro the cold snap, tends to still have the slab intact. That hard slab appears to have acted like a barrier and increased the amount of facetting below. We encountered some VERY hollow sections today. Here's the word: variable! Every ski turn brought a different character. The alpine is similar, but expect the Nov 12 crust to fade away at about 2400m. It is likely present as a weak facet layer, but at this time the whole snowpack is weak so its hard to distinguish where exactly it is.
matt.mueller,
Alberta Parks
