Avalanche forecast

Jasper

Apr 12 – 13, 2018Parks Canada
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Archived · expired 8 years ago

Avalanche danger

Sat
Sun
Alpine
2 · Moderate
Treeline
1 · Low
Below
1 · Low
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Highlights

Good skiing can be found close to treeline on sheltered north facing terrain as winter conditions persist. Evaluate specific terrain features before committing as we are in a low probability high consequence situation.

Avalanche problems

  • Wind Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible
    Size
    1–1.5
    Moderate southerly winds in the alpine continue to build pockets of wind slab. Once triggered, these slabs may trigger deeper releases running far into the valley.

  • Persistent Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible
    Size
    2–3
    Persistent slabs sitting on facets on Northerly aspects continue to show sporadic signs of reactivity. The slab sits on buried temperature crusts on South aspects. Triggering may occur from shallow snowpack areas some distance out.

Weather Forecast

Friday will be flurries and 11 cm of snow, high -6 C, wind southwest 20 km/hr, freezing level 1700m. Saturday will bring flurries, 9cm of snow, low -7 C and high -5 C, Southwest winds 20km/hr gusting 50, freeing level 1800m. Sunday is forecast to be flurries, 10cm of snow, low -8 and high -2 C, light South winds, and freezing level 2100m.

Snowpack Summary

Wind slabs and wind effect is found in open areas treeline and above. The upper snowpack is a variable 25 to 80 cm thick slab that sits on weak FC crust layers in the mid-pack. Depth hoar persists near the ground.

Avalanche Summary

No patrol Thursday. Skiers released a cornice to test Ulr / terminator chute #5 Wednesday and released a healthy size 2 avalanche. See the MIN report. This is a steep N facing chute dropping into Whistler creek drainage from the backside of Marmot basin. Another group observed sz 2's 48 hours old in Bald hills zone on Wednesday.

Confidence

Forecast snowfall amounts are uncertain on Friday

Regions covered