East Kakwa

Look for signs of instability and assess for wind slabs. Small avalanches could step down to weak layers deeper in the snowpack.

Only a few natural size 1.5 wind slab avalanches have been reported over the past few days.

Over the past week in the neighbouring region, many natural and skier triggered persistent slab avalanches occurred on the facets above the early-February melt-freeze crust described in the Snowpack Summary.

The wind has blown from a variety of directions over the past few days. Wind effect could be found on all aspects.

30 to 50 cm below the snow surface you may find surface hoar in wind-sheltered terrain, weak facets, or a hard melt-freeze crust on south and west-facing slopes.

A thick and hard widespread crust that formed in early February is buried about 60 to 80 cm deep. This crust may have a layer of facets above it.

The eastern portion of this region is much shallower with a highly variable and wind affected snowpack.

Wednesday Night

Cloudy with clear breaks. 25 to 40 km/h west and northwest alpine wind. Treeline temperature -16°C.

Thursday

Mostly cloudy with 1 to 3 cm snow. 25 to 50 km/h southwest alpine wind. Treeline temperature -7°C.

Friday

Cloudy with 5 to 10 cm of snow expected. 30 to 50 km/h south alpine wind. Treeline temperature -2°C. Freezing level 1500 m.

Saturday

Cloudy with 5 to 10 cm of new snow expected. 30 to 50 km/h south alpine wind. Treeline temperature -1°C. Freezing level 1600 m.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

• Conservative terrain selection is critical, choose only well supported, low consequence lines.
• Recent wind has varied in direction so watch for wind slabs on all aspects.
• If triggered, wind slabs avalanches may step down to deeper layers resulting in larger avalanches.
• Remote triggering is a concern, watch out for adjacent and overhead slopes.