East Kakwa

Soft snow and fun riding can still be found in sheltered areas.

Remain cautious in steep, shallow, rocky start zones.

A few old wind slabs were reported in the Core Lodge area on Wednesday, which were suspected to have occurred last week. No newer avalanche activity has been reported.

Keep posting your observations to the Mountain Information Network!

Surface snow is predominantly wind-affected, with sastrugi in many open upper-elevation areas. Soft snow may be found in sheltered areas above 1500 m. A new layer of surface hoar and facets may be thinly buried by 1-5 cm of recent snow in sheltered areas.

A second layer of surface hoar may be found around 50 cm deep. It has been producing limited results with snowpack tests. The mid-pack is generally made of weak, sugary faceted crystals, along with a crust near the base of the snowpack.

Total snowpack depths in this region are generally shallow, averaging around a meter at treeline.

Check out this MIN report from our field team for conditions at Core Lodge from Wednesday.

Thursday Night

Partly cloudy. 30 km/h northwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -9 °C.

Friday

Mostly sunny. 20 to 30 km/h northwest ridgetop wind. Treeline high temperature -8 °C.

Saturday

Sunny. 25 to 40 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -5°C.

Sunday

Sunny. 40 to 50 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -1 °C.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

• Watch for areas of hard wind slab on alpine features.
• Pay attention to isolated wind affected features in the alpine, as well as cross-loaded features at treeline.
• Small avalanches can have serious consequences in extreme terrain. Carefully evaluate your line for slabs before you commit to it.