Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Mar 7th, 2025–Mar 8th, 2025

Alpine

Natural avalanches possible, human triggered probable.

Treeline

Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.

Below Treeline

Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.

Alpine

Natural avalanches possible, human triggered probable.

Treeline

Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.

Below Treeline

Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.

Alpine

Natural and human triggered avalanches likely.

Treeline

Natural avalanches possible, human triggered probable.

Below Treeline

Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.

Regions

Kananaskis, Bow Valley, Highwood Pass, North 40, Spray - KLakes.

Good skiing can be found on low angle smooth features. Sunday evening things look to be changing with a nice size storm coming our way.

Confidence

Moderate

Avalanche Summary

Filed teams up in the Robertson valley today noted a couple fresh slabs size 2.5 that ran to valley bottom covering up a skin/decent track from yesterday.

A few new solar avalanches in the alpine on West aspects to size 2.5 also observed up in the burstall pass zone.

Otherwise good evidence of a widespread avalanche cycle from a week ago.

Snowpack Summary

5-10cm of settled snow sits on the surface. Where the sun was shinning there is now a mellt freeze crust to contend with. The main concern right now is the persistent slab 15-30cm thick that is resting on the Jan 30 interface made of facets, sun crust or another dense layer. The mid and lower snowpack is primarily facets. Human triggering remains possible due to the dense slab overlying a lot of weak facets. Forecasters have little confidence in the snowpack. Travelling at lower elevations involves ski penetration to ground if you leave any established trail.

Weather Summary

Saturday will be mostly cloudy.

Day time high of -6 and15-25km/h Southwest winds.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

Keep in mind that human triggering may persist as natural avalanches taper off.
Avoid steep, rocky, and wind-affected areas where triggering slabs is more likely.
Avoid shallow, rocky areas where the snowpack transitions from thick to thin.

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.

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.