Kananaskis

Beautiful day out there today, hopefully tomorrow is the same. Watch for subtle signs of wind loading in the alpine. Open areas were starting to look wavy this afternoon- a clear indicator of wind slabs.

We had a good look around today and saw evidence of an isolated cycle from likely 24 hours ago. This activity was focused around Highwood, but it likely extends further. Most action was on NW to E (clockwise) aspects, up to sz 2 and running far in confined terrain.

The Highwood area has had more wind affect than other areas. While it isn't wind scoured by any means, there are some higher areas showing waves and ripples. Interestingly, the loading pattern suggests both north and south flows last night. Expect some cross loading on east and west aspects. Elsewhere on the Spray there wasn't much evidence of wind. Still looks like winter. We've seen a few centimeters of settlement on all the weather stations, and it looks as though the snowpack has regionally settled. Surface roughness is starting to show through. Our young snowpack is rapidly ageing. On that note, as the cold clear nights continue expect the snowpack to begin to facet and lose strength.

What we can expect tonight and tomorrow:

Tonight: predicted lows of about -10, but likely a bit cooler as skies will be clear this evening. Winds are still freakishly light. We may see light winds at ridge, but not enough for significant transport.

Tomorrow: A mix of sun and cloud, no snow and light winds(20km/hr@2700m). Temperatures maxing out at -8 by early afternoon.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

• Continue to make conservative terrain choices while the storm snow settles and stabilizes.
• Be careful with wind-loaded pockets, especially near ridge crests and rollovers.
• Keep in mind a buried crust offers an excellent bed surface for avalanches.