Regions
Banff Yoho Kootenay.
We have switched to spring conditions! A little bit of new snow should improve the skiing up high. Start early to take advantage of the cooler temperatures, better travel and lower avalanche hazard and plan to be off steep slopes before they heat up.
Weather Forecast
A slight cooling trend with a few flurries and moderate winds from the West are forecasted for Tuesday and Wednesday. Another ridge begins to build on Wednesday and clearing skies with increasing freezing levels are forecasted towards the end of the week.
Snowpack Summary
A few cm's of new snow at higher elevations. Expect surface crusts on all aspects at lower elevations with moist snow underneath. Crusts will rapidly break down with daytime heating or sun exposure. In many places the snowpack is sitting on a deep persistent layer of facets that has been avalanching with solar heating over the previous week.
Avalanche Summary
Slightly cooler temperature and light cloud cover have helped to reduce natural avalanches. No avalanches observed or reported on Monday. Lots of natural activity up to size 3.5 observed in the past week with intense solar heating.
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.
Loose Wet
Loose Wet avalanches are the release of wet unconsolidated snow or slush. These avalanches typically occur within layers of wet snow near the surface of the snowpack, but they may quickly gouge into lower snowpack layers. Like Loose Dry Avalanches, they start at a point and entrain snow as they move downhill, forming a fan-shaped avalanche. Other names for loose-wet avalanches include point-release avalanches or sluffs. Loose Wet avalanches can trigger slab avalanches that break into deeper snow layers.