Avalanche Forecast
Issued: Jan 21st, 2025 4:00PM
The alpine rating is , the treeline rating is , and the below treeline rating is Known problems include Wind Slabs and Persistent Slabs.
Avalanche Canada,
Avalanche Canada
Anticipate wind and storm slab reactivity and size to increase throughout the day on Wednesday.
Summary
Confidence
Moderate
Avalanche Summary
No new avalanche activity has been reported since the weekend.
A widespread avalanche cycle occurred late last week during stormy weather, with avalanches up to size 3 reported, failing on the weak layer buried in early December.
A few rider-triggered, smaller wind slab avalanches were reported over the weekend.
Snowpack Summary
New snow is accumulating over a variety of surface hoar and faceted snow in sheltered terrain and old wind-affected surfaces in exposed terrain.
A widespread crust can be found in the upper snowpack from rain and warm temperatures earlier in January. Reports suggest this layer is bonding well.
A crust along with surface hoar and/or facets persists down roughly 100 to 200 cm from the surface. This layer produced large avalanches during last week's storm.
Weather Summary
Tuesday Night
Cloudy with up to 5 cm of snow. 30 to 50 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -5 °C.
Wednesday
Cloudy with 10 to 20 cm of snow. 40 to 60 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -3 °C.
Thursday
Mostly cloudy with 0 to 2 cm of snow. 30 to 50 km/h northwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -5 °C.
Friday
Mostly cloudy. 20 to 40 km/h northwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -5 °C.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
Terrain and Travel Advice
- Pay attention to the wind; once it starts to blow, sensitive wind slabs are likely to form.
- If triggered, wind slabs avalanches may step down to deeper layers resulting in larger avalanches.
- This avalanche problem is difficult to trigger, but would have serious consequences.
Problems
Wind Slabs
Be alert to wind and storm slab formation throughout the day on Wednesday with new snow and increasing winds. Small surface avalanches have the potential to step down to deep weak layers producing larger than expected avalanches.
Aspects: All aspects.
Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.
Likelihood
Expected Size
Persistent Slabs
A widespread crust with surface hoar and/or facets, buried in early December is buried 120-200 cm deep. While this layer exists on all aspects, it's most likely to be triggered by a heavy load in wind-loaded terrain.
Aspects: All aspects.
Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.
Likelihood
Expected Size
Valid until: Jan 22nd, 2025 4:00PM
