Jasper

Give the recent storm snow and freshly formed wind slabs time to settle and bond before venturing into larger features. Despite the strong winds, good skiing can still be found in sheltered areas.

Moderate

• We are confident that there are persistent slabs in the snowpack, but uncertain about how likely they are to trigger.

On March 8th, two size 2.5 wind slab avalanches were observed in the Churchill range, one size 2.5 slab avalanche was observed near Pyramid, and several size 1.5 wind slab avalanches were observed in the Icefields area. Marmot Basin staff reported observing several slab avalanches in the backcountry, with at least one being up to size 3.

On March 5th, a size 3.5 persistent slab avalanche was observed on Mount Morden Long in the Chuchill Range.

Strong to extreme winds out of the S to N have created widespread wind-effect, scoured fetches, and formed wind slabs. A persistent weak layer of surface hoar and facets from January 24th is down 20-80 cm. There have been a number of natural avalanches that have failed on this layer in the past week. Below, the snowpack is generally well consolidated facets to ground. Icefields snow depths range from 130-200 cm and snow depth in the Maligne area ranges from 60-140 cm. 

Tuesday

Cloudy with sunny periods and isolated flurries.

Precipitation: Trace.

Alpine temperature: High -13 °C.

Ridge wind southwest: 15 km/h gusting to 40 km/h.

Freezing level at valley bottom.

Cloudy with scattered flurries.

Accumulation: 5 cm.

Alpine temperature: Low -14 °C, High -13 °C.

Ridge wind southwest: 15 km/h gusting to 50 km/h.

Freezing level at valley bottom.

Mainly cloudy with scattered flurries.

Accumulation: 5 cm.

Alpine temperature: Low -16 °C, High -11 °C.

Ridge wind west: 15 km/h gusting to 50 km/h.

Freezing level at valley bottom.

• Look for signs of instability: whumphing, hollow sounds, shooting cracks, and recent avalanches.
• Fresh snow rests on a problematic persistent slab, don't let good riding lure you into complacency.