Don't let the nice weather push you towards consequential terrain. The snowpack structure remains weak and requires conservative decision making.
Strong winds that accompanied the +50cm storm have produced wind slabs in the alpine and treeline. Moderate - strong wind throughout the week will continue to develop this problem.
This problem layer is the crust and facets created by early February's warm spell. It is down 30-80 cm in the snowpack and is a 1-10 cm thick crust.
The base of the snowpack is inherently weak and untrustworthy. Tickling this deep layer would result in a high consequence avalanche. Any avalanche in the upper snowpack has the potential to step down to the base of the snowpack.
A widespread avalanche cycle occurred last week as a result of the Feb 29th storm. Natural avalanches upto size 3.5 have been observed on the Icefields Parkway - all aspects in the alpine & at tree line running to the end of avalanche paths. Likewise avalanche control along the Icefields Parkway on Friday had several sympathetic avalanche releases from a single explosion.
No new avalanche activity observed on the Icefields Parkway or Malign Lake Road over the past 2 days.
Up to 50 cm of new snow fell during last weeks storm with strong winds, creating wind slabs. Wind slabs sit over a layer of faceted snow above a 1-3cm thick crust that is down 35-60 cm. This persistent weak layer is consistently reactive in snowpit tests and is not going away anytime soon. The mid-pack is faceted with basal depth hoar and well developed facets near ground. HS ranges from 80 to 150cm.
The Mountain Weather Forecast is available at Avalanche Canada https://avalanche.ca/weather/forecast
Wednesday Sunny with cloudy periods. No precipitation Alpine high -11 °C. Wind west 10-20 km/h. Mild inversion on Icefields Parkway.
Thursday A mix of sun and cloud. High -11 °C. Wind west: 15 km/h.
Friday Mainly cloudy with isolated flurries. Precipitation: Trace - 2cm. High -8 °C. Wind SW 20-30 km/h.
