Happy Holiday's everyone. Travel safe. Tangle weather station registered gusting 100km/hr winds and Maligne area is forecast to have steady high elevation 70 km/hr winds Tuesday to Thursday.
Recent snow and strong winds have created wind slabs. More winds are expected Tuesday and Wednesday particularly in the Maligne lake area at upper elevation. Avoid wind loaded unsupported terrain.
A variety of crusts with facets above and below exist at the bottom of the snowpack. These layers are going to be with us for along time and pose a low probability, high consequence situation if triggered.
No patrol occurred Monday or Tuesday and nothing new reported. Over the weekend the ski hill using explosives triggered two size 1.5 deep persistent avalanches and a small windslab. Lake Louise skihill to the South has been consistently explosive triggering windslabs size 1.5-2.
Strong to extreme winds have redistributed surface snow and scoured windward aspects. Sheltered locations may still hold 15cm of soft snow if winds did not get to it. In protected areas, a weak layer of 7mm Surface Hoar may be 10-30cm down. The mid-lower snow pack has multiple layers of crusts and facets with one being near the ground.
Icefield's area on Christmas day will be cloudy, flurries, -8 °C, SW winds 20 gusting to 60 km/h. Boxing day may bring similar weather with SW 15 gusting 40 km/h winds. Friday will be much the same as Thursday. Of note, Maligne could be blowing steady 40-70km/hr at upper elevations Wednesday to Thursday morning.
