Happy holidays! Don't let your guard down with triggering the deep basal weakness.
Weather Forecast
The area may receive 5-10cm of snow between Sunday and Tuesday. Expect seasonal temperatures and gusting 40km/hr westerly winds at higher elevations.
Snowpack Summary
5-10cm last night in the Icefields area is not enough to change the snowpack. It remains generally shallow, weak, with a variably distributed deep persistent slab overlying weak basal layers of depth hoar, crusts, and/or facets. Windslabs have formed in exposed treeline and above areas. Below treeline remains unsupportive.
Avalanche Summary
Four new natural slab avalanches size 2.5-3 was observed today in the alpine on a West aspect in shallow rocks, and steep unskiable terrain at 2400m running on basal weakness. The avalanches were restricted to small area between Boundary peak and Panther falls where snowfalls were slightly more and the temperature dropped quickly in 2 hours.
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.
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.