Regions
Banff Yoho Kootenay.
Conditions are good right now. Cornice falls and afternoon heating will require good timing for your objective. JBW
Weather Forecast
We may see some high cloud on Sunday that could prevent an overnight freeze. Otherwise, fine weather with slowly rising temperatures and freezing levels each day will continue through mid week.
Snowpack Summary
Spring conditions prevail. but it is not quite corn yet on the upper elevation southerly aspects. A 2cm crust is holding everything together while frozen. Northerly aspects are well settled with some wind slabs. Lower elevations are going through the classic melt freeze daily cycle. Cornices are large and have been observed falling off every day.
Avalanche Summary
Wet afternoon slides have been covering some tracks. Timing is critical. Cornices have been observed falling off as early as 9:00 AM on sun exposed ridges, some of these have triggered deep slabs on the steep/extreme slopes below them.
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.