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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Dec 5th, 2021–Dec 6th, 2021

Alpine
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Alpine
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Alpine
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.

Regions

Kananaskis.

Rugged skiing below 2150m. Above that things improve drastically and the skiing was quite good.

Confidence

Moderate - Uncertainty is due to the limited number of field observations.

Weather Forecast

The cold influence will remain with night time low's of -20 and day time highs -13. sky's will be more cloudy tomorrow with no precip in the forecast. Winds have swaped to a moderate NW flow.

Avalanche Summary

Evidence of a large avalanche cycle in the Murray moraines valley, Minimal loose dry action observed today

Snowpack Summary

Elevation dependent!

Below 2150m expect the Dec 1 Melt freeze crust (Mfcr) on all aspects and supportive to travel. Ski quality suffers.

Above 2150M things improve drastically. Today we got as high as 2450m and found excellent ski quality for that 300m band.

A quick dig on a N aspect in the alpine showed a progressively stiff snowpack with small basal facets starting to forum. Alpine height of snow (HS) is very variable from 140cm- over 2 meters in the deepest of spots.

Terrain and Travel

  • Be carefull with sluffing in steep terrain, especially above cliffs and terrain traps.
  • If triggered, wind slabs avalanches may step down to deeper layers resulting in larger avalanches.

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.

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.