For skiers, alpine wind slabs will be your greatest concern, watch for rocks and other buried hazards at treeline. Ice climbers will need to evaluate snow loading above their climbs. Enjoy the early season conditions!
Weather Forecast
Little precipitation is expected through the weekend. Temperatures will slowly moderate. Winds are expected to continue moderate from the SW. Clearing skies will make for beautiful early season conditions.
Snowpack Summary
Tuesday's storm brought up to 60cm. Snow depths vary between 70 to 140 cm in the Icefields. Generally unsupportive conditions below treeline and improving as you approach TL and above. Strong gusty SW alpine winds have formed slab conditions on lee aspects. Previous northerly winds have reverse and cross-loaded alpine slopes.
Avalanche Summary
Explosive work on Parkers slabs on Wednesday produced avalanches up to size 2.5. Wide propagations were observed. Numerous natural avalanches up to size 3 within last 48 hours were noted in the alpine mainly on lee steep slopes.
Confidence
Due to the number of field observations on Friday
Problems
Wind Slabs
Wind Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer of snow (a slab) formed by the wind. Wind typically transports snow from the upwind sides of terrain features and deposits snow on the downwind side. Wind slabs are often smooth and rounded and sometimes sound hollow, and can range from soft to hard. Wind slabs that form over a persistent weak layer (surface hoar, depth hoar, or near-surface facets) may be termed Persistent Slabs or may develop into Persistent Slabs.
Loose Dry
Loose Dry avalanches are the release of dry unconsolidated snow and typically occur within layers of soft snow near the surface of the snowpack. These avalanches start at a point and entrain snow as they move downhill, forming a fan-shaped avalanche. Other names for loose-dry avalanches include point-release avalanches or sluffs.