Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Apr 27th, 2024–May 1st, 2024

Alpine

Below Threshold.

Treeline

Below Threshold.

Below Treeline

Below Threshold.

Alpine

Below Threshold.

Treeline

Below Threshold.

Below Treeline

Below Threshold.

Alpine

Below Threshold.

Treeline

Below Threshold.

Below Treeline

Below Threshold.

Regions

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

Spring Conditions means avalanche danger may be variable and can easily range from Low to High throughout the day. Check out https://avalanche.ca/spring-conditions for ways to manage the different Spring Conditions scenarios. Also pay attention to short lived storms (such as the forecast for heavy snow on Apr30/May 1) that could produce wind slabs and/or storm slabs for relatively brief periods of time.

Confidence

High

Snowpack Summary

In most areas, a melt-freeze crust exists on all aspects. This crust is supportive and locks down all basal weaknesses when it is frozen. This crust will tend to break down with solar radiation, daytime heating or a cloudy night without a freeze. Once this occurs, the basal facets can be more easily triggered by the weight of a skier, a cornice or a wet avalanche from daytime heating. It will be important to monitor the crust and adjust your trip accordingly. Convective Spring flurries with significant amounts of snow is not uncommon and difficult to forecast. In a nutshell, the avalanche hazard rating can vary dramatically from day to day and also hour to hour. Usually, an early start and early finish is a good way to go. Check out "Spring Conditions" write up at: : https://avalanche.ca/spring-conditions

Weather Summary

The transition to Spring continues, however pay attention to the occasional intense convective flurries. Several weather models are predicting significant snowfall amounts for Apr 29 through May 1.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

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.