Regions
Banff Yoho Kootenay.
Good spring skiing with fresh snow over a supportive base. Travel is fast and it is a good time for longer objectives. Start early when the hazard is Low and finish before the solar aspects get hot. Expect a winter like snowpack on high N aspects.
Weather Forecast
Generally clear skies Saturday night with a mix of sun and cloud on Sunday. Expect a good freeze Saturday night with freezing levels climbing to 2100m late Sunday afternoon. Monday and Tuesday will see temperatures begin to climb with potential for 3000m freezing levels by Tuesday afternoon.
Snowpack Summary
Supportive crust on solar aspects for most of the day with 5-10cm of new snow at higher elevations. Previous wind effect in alpine areas. Mid pack is well settled with no significant shears. The basal facets remain the main weakness in the snowpack, but we expect only large loads or a dramatic rise in temperatures to cause failures on this layer.
Avalanche Summary
Wet loose natural avalanches up to size 2 were seen Friday afternoon due to the warm temperatures with less activity on Saturday. Isolated whumpfing in the alpine was still noted on a steep solar aspect today in the Mt Hector area. Several recent cornice failures have triggered slabs on the basal facets and cornices remain a significant concern.
Problems
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.
Cornices
Cornice Fall is the release of an overhanging mass of snow that forms as the wind moves snow over a sharp terrain feature, such as a ridge, and deposits snow on the downwind (leeward) side. Cornices range in size from small wind drifts of soft snow to large overhangs of hard snow that are 30 feet (10 meters) or taller. They can break off the terrain suddenly and pull back onto the ridge top and catch people by surprise even on the flat ground above the slope. Even small cornices can have enough mass to be destructive and deadly. Cornice Fall can entrain loose surface snow or trigger slab avalanches.