Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Feb 10th, 2024–Feb 11th, 2024

Alpine

Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.

Treeline

Natural avalanches unlikely.

Below Treeline

Natural avalanches unlikely.

Alpine

Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.

Treeline

Natural avalanches unlikely.

Below Treeline

Natural avalanches unlikely.

Alpine

Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.

Treeline

Natural avalanches unlikely.

Below Treeline

Natural avalanches unlikely.

Regions

Kananaskis, Bow Valley, Highwood Pass, North 40, Spray - KLakes.

North winds have arrived and are starting to move the new snow around. These winds are due to swap back to the SW on Sunday. Caution in lee features as these freshly formed windslabs are building on top of the Feb 3rd temp/rain crust. A nice sliding surface.

Confidence

High

Avalanche Summary

A natural loose dry off EEOR triggered a small windslab lower down in the bowl.

Otherwise no new reports

Snowpack Summary

The recent storm snow is settling and now averages 10 to 20cm over the Feb 3 crust. With the sunny skies Friday, steep solar aspects now have a thin sun crust on the surface. Deeper down, the Feb 3rd crust is mostly supportive in the valley bottom and extends at least as high as 2500m. The bond at the storm snow - crust interface is mainly good, except on steep northerly aspects in the alpine where some previous sluffing was observed. Very isolated wind slab development has also been observed in the alpine in wind prone areas and on lee features. Ski quality is dust on crust in the alpine.

Weather Summary

Sunday will see flurries (not really accumulating to much) Day time high of -6, 20km/h SW winds and cloudy skies. Freezing levels to hover around 1600m

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

In areas where deep persistent slabs may exist, avoid shallow or variable depth snowpacks and unsupported terrain features.
Back off if you encounter whumpfing, hollow sounds, or shooting cracks.
Be carefull with sluffing in steep terrain, especially above cliffs and terrain traps.

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.