Regions
Banff Yoho Kootenay.
Heads up skiers and climbers! With fresh snow and winds the Dec 15 layer will soon wake up. Pay attention to new snowfall amounts and fresh wind slabs.
Weather Forecast
Cooling trend with up to 10 cm new snow at tree-line and moderate SW winds forecasted for Wednesday. High pressure ridge will start to rebuild over area on Friday.
Snowpack Summary
25-40cm of snow sits over the Dec 15 layer which consists of surface hoar, sun crust, or facets depending on location. Easy to mod shears found on this layer. Below this the snowpack is heavily faceted with remnants of older crust's still lingering throughout, but no significant shears found in the lower pack. Some isolated windslabs near ridgetop.
Avalanche Summary
No natural avalanches observed or reported in past 24 hours.
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.