Highway 93 will be closed at Friday at 10am from Parkers ridge to Saskatchewan crossing for avalanche control . Expected opening is 6pm with moderate confidence. The plan is for 2 hour temporary closures but no guarantees.
Wind effect and windslab are common through the region with varied reactivity. Increasing snow load will elevate the hazard in the short term.
The incoming new snow will need some time to settle and stabilize.
20-30cm of new snow is predicted Thursday night into Friday creating a storm slab condition. The rapid loading will likely increase natural activity.
Thursday evening into Friday will bring potentially 20-30cm, -5 °C, light winds gusting to 35 km/h, and freezing level 1500 metres. Saturday will be 6 cm of snow, -17 to -12 °C, light winds, and freezing level at valley bottom. Sunday will bring a mix of sun and cloud with isolated flurries, -19 to -13 °C, and light winds.
25cm of recent new snow overlies a variety of surfaces depending on aspect and elevation. Wind slabs are continuously forming on lee aspects. The Columbia Icefields region has a well bridged mid pack overlying basal facets and depth hoar. The northern part of the forecast region is shallower and weaker. 20-30cm of snow may arrive Friday.
Thursday's Icefield's patrol noted nothing new but visibility was poor. Yesterday Maligne patrol noted a few small natural avalanches in steep cross-loaded features at tree-line along the Colin Range.
Use the Mountain Information Network to share your field trip observations contributing to the daily avalanche bulletin.
