Regions
Banff Yoho Kootenay.
The cooling trend has locked down the snowpack, and a few cm of snow have improved the conditions on the surface. Below treeline conditions are still frozen up to 1800 meters. Despite the LOW rating, heads up on sun exposed slopes in the afternoon.
Weather Forecast
Friday looks to be a repeat of today's weather, with a mix of sun and cloud and temperatures staying cool (-5 to -15 range). No precipitation is expected, along with light winds. Looks like clear skies and a nice day coming for Saturday.
Snowpack Summary
5-10 cm of loose snow sits on the surface from the last few days in the Bow Summit area, but light winds and a cooling trend has minimized any surface instabilities. The base of the snowpack is weak facets with a 40-60cm stiff snow over top. Triggering is unlikely except in open, shallow snowpack areas and steep south facing slopes in the afternoon
Avalanche Summary
No new avalanches reported today from observations on the Banff/Jasper highway, Stanley Valley, Sunshine Village and Lake Louise areas.
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.