Regions
Banff Yoho Kootenay.
Enjoy the nice spring weather and good ski conditions at higher elevations, but remain diligent in your terrain selection and stay out of steep, rocky terrain where you might tickle the basal facets!
Weather Forecast
Spring-like weather for the next few days with daytime highs nearing zero at valley bottom and lows dropping down to -10/ -15. Clear skies, and light winds in general, although Tuesday may see Moderate alpine winds from the NW. No new snow in the foreseeable future!
Snowpack Summary
A well settled upper snowpack with highly variable depths sits over the ever present weak facets and depth hoar in the bottom half of the snowpack. Colder temperatures have helped the slab bridge over the weaker base. Expect to find wind slabs in lee areas in the alpine.
Avalanche Summary
A few size 1-2 loose wet avalanches observed out of steep solar aspects today. A larger size 2.5 slab on a south aspect of Mt. Redoubt occurred on Monday afternoon during the heat of the day.
Confidence
The weather pattern is stable
Problems
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.