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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Mar 23rd, 2024–Mar 24th, 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

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

The deeper weak layers are still possible to trigger in thin snowpack areas in the alpine (see avalanche summary)

The ski quality has significantly improved over the past few days, especially on shady aspects.

Confidence

High

Avalanche Summary

No new avalanches were reported today. On Friday, there was a size 3 event on Hidden Bowl in the Lake Louise backcountry. It was a remote in the alpine from 200m away while uptracking in a thin snowpack area. See the photo below. There have also been some recent natural sloughs out of very steep terrain (mainly size 1), sliding on the March 20th interface.

Snowpack Summary

10-30cm of recent snow is settling. This snow has turned to crusts on steep solar aspects to ridgetop. On shady aspects there is little wind effect. This snow lies over the March 20 temperature crust, which extends to 2100 m on all aspects and ridge tops on solar aspects. The Feb 3rd crust layer is down ~ 50 -100 cm, and the basal facets persist in thin snowpack areas. Total snowpack depths range from 90-170 cm at treeline.

Weather Summary

Sunday: Light Winds NE becoming NW, valley bottom freezing levels, sun and clouds.

Monday: Light West winds, freezing levels rising to 1500m and sunny.

Click here for more weather info.

Problems

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.

Deep Persistent Slabs

Deep Persistent Slab avalanches are the release of a thick cohesive layer of hard snow (a slab), when the bond breaks between the slab and an underlying persistent weak layer deep in the snowpack. The most common persistent weak layers involved in deep, persistent slabs are depth hoar or facets surrounding a deeply buried crust. Deep Persistent Slabs are typically hard to trigger, are very destructive and dangerous due to the large mass of snow involved, and can persist for months once developed. They are often triggered from areas where the snow is shallow and weak, and are particularly difficult to forecast for and manage.