Regions
Banff Yoho Kootenay.
Conditions for spring skiing are excellent and many big lines are being skied. Watch for daytime heating or intense solar inputs and limit exposure to cornices especially later in the day. Start and finish early and enjoy the great conditions!
Weather Forecast
Monday and Tuesday look like continued great weather for spring skiing with clear skies overnight and light winds. Low temperatures in the alpine will be between -2 and -5'C and highs between 3 and 6'C. Wednesday will be cloudy with a chance of light flurries, warmer temperatures and a limited freeze overnight.
Snowpack Summary
A melt freeze crust is present on solar aspects in the alpine and on all aspects at tree line and below which deteriorates with daytime heating. Dry powder on N aspects in the alpine with light wind effect near ridge crests. Steep solar aspects and the lower elevation snowpack are becoming isothermal with daytime heating.
Avalanche Summary
Loose wet slides starting by mid morning on steep solar aspects in the alpine today. Evidence of previous loose wet avalanches up to size 2 with daytime heating in the past several days. Still lingering concerns for deep slabs on the basal facets in the alpine if/when we get a period of prolonged heat or a big rise in daytime temperatures.
Problems
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.