Avalanche danger is tightly linked to solar exposure and warming. Look to shaded aspects to find the best snow and safest riding.
Weather Forecast
Saturday: Mainly sunny with valley cloud due to lingering temperature inversion. Light southwest winds. Freezing level to 3500 metres with alpine temperatures around +3. Cooler at lower elevations.Sunday: Mainly cloudy. Light west winds. Freezing level to 3500 metres with alpine temperatures around +5. Cooler at lower elevations.Monday: Mainly sunny with lingering valley cloud. Light southwest winds. Freezing level to 3500 metres with alpine temperatures around +6. Cooler at lower elevations.
Avalanche Summary
Reports from Tuesday included several observations of wind slabs releasing to Size 2 in the Fernie area. These were mainly triggered with explosives but one Size 1.5 slab did release with skier traffic. Looking forward, we should see a gradually diminishing potential for wind slab releases as warm daytime temperatures and overnight cooling promote bonding in the upper snowpack. Please submit your observations to the Mountain Information Network (MIN).
Snowpack Summary
Solar and temperature crusts are expected to have formed on the surface at higher elevations over the past two days. Below the surface, recent shifting winds redistributed loose snow at higher elevations, crossloading and forming wind slabs on a wide range of aspects at treeline and above. Below this wind effect, roughly 30-60 cm of storm snow is expected to be bonding well to the underlying crust that was buried on November 26. This crust is approximately 30 cm thick and extends from 1600 m to mountain top elevations on all aspects. Below this capping crust, the snowpack is moist to ground. Average snowpack depths at treeline elevations in the region range from 80-120 cm.
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 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.