Kananaskis

Strong winds over the past few days have created a dense slab overlying either a crust or weak facetted crystals near the ground. Lee slopes (N and E aspects) and gullies are good examples of places wherein you may encounter these problems. Human triggering of this problem is still possible.

Nothing new has been noted in the last couple of days but still lots of older signs of avalanche activity. Some lee areas that released last week are already reloaded.

We have about 20cm of snow in the valley bottom and 40-70cm at treeline and above. Variability in snow amounts is the theme here but generally not enough to ski yet. Lee features and cross loaded gullies will have the most snow but are also areas of concern for triggering slab avalanches. As a very general summary, we have 3 layers: sugary facets on the ground, a thin intermittent crust and a persistent slab in wind prone areas. If you're at all experienced in the Rockies, you'll simply know this as a classic early season snowpack!

Cooler temperatures are moving back into the region overnight on Wednesday with light northwesterly winds and some light flurries. Wednesday night and into thursday we will see up to 10cm of snow as winds continue to shift around to the northeast.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

• Be carefull with sluffing in steep terrain, especially above cliffs and terrain traps.
• Avoid lee and cross-loaded terrain.
• Watch for newly formed and reactive wind slabs as you transition into wind affected terrain.
• Avoid terrain traps where the consequence of any avalanche could be serious.