Regions
Banff Yoho Kootenay.
Travel is good but timing is everything now as the snow is becoming unstable with daytime heating. Get a very early start and be home on the deck before things start falling down JBW
Weather Forecast
Temperatures will continue to be warm with mainly clear skies. Each afternoon the freezing level rises and the temperatures slightly warmer.
Snowpack Summary
Another hot day with less overnight recovery resulted in a rash of late afternoon wet avalanches today. Cascade waterfall failed on the ground in a wet slab that ran to the bottom of the falls. The snowpack is stable when the crusts are intact, but have regard for what is happening on the slopes far above you.
Avalanche Summary
A serac fall triggered a size 3.5 slab on the east face of Mt. Lefroy estimated 1. 5 metres thick and 700m wide. Numerous wet sluffs and slabs to size three with afternoon heating.
Confidence
Timing or intensity of solar radiation is uncertain
Problems
Wet Slabs
Wet Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer of snow (a slab) that is generally moist or wet when the flow of liquid water weakens the bond between the slab and the surface below (snow or ground). They often occur during prolonged warming events and/or rain-on-snow events. Wet Slabs can be very unpredictable and destructive.
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.