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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Dec 5th, 2025–Dec 6th, 2025

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 possible, human triggered probable.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.

Regions

Banff Yoho Kootenay, Little Yoho, Banff, East Side 93N, Kootenay, Lake Louise, LLSA, Sunshine, West Side 93N, Field.

Moderate westerly winds will continue to move snow through the weekend. Expect small, easily triggered slabs on gully walls and steep leeward slopes. Otherwise, the incoming light flurries will improve riding quality, and many sheltered areas still hold soft snow.

Confidence

Moderate

Avalanche Summary

LLSA’s explosive work on steep lee NE alpine terrain produced unexpected results: two shots triggered size 2 wind slabs that propagated about 75 m, up to 40 cm deep, and ran roughly 300 m. Smaller slabs triggered with explosives and some travelled farther than anticipated (SSV). It's suspected a thin mid-pack melt-freeze crust aided both propagation and runout.

On Thursday, a size 3 cornice failure off Crowfoot Mountain dropped over the glacier and into the moraines.

Snowpack Summary

The winds continue to affect the snow surface. The windslabs created through the week are up to 40 cm thick. Small windloaded features have been triggered. A rain crust exists in the middle of the snowpack, which may be starting to become reactive based on explosive control results on Friday by SSV & LLSA.

At treeline and below, the snow quality remains generally soft, despite the wind, with a relatively strong mid-pack and no significant weak layers.

Weather Summary

The strong westerly flow is expected to continue for the weekend. This means a blustery few days with continued moderate west winds (30-40 km/hr), light amounts of snow (2-5 cm/day) and temperatures steady in the -5 to -10 range. In the longer term, more significant precipitation appears to be on the horizon for Monday and Tuesday of next week. Fingers crossed.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • Watch for newly formed and reactive wind slabs as you transition into wind-affected terrain.

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.