Check 511 for Highway 93 opening status. Give the stunning amount of new snow time to heal and stabilize. Consider any slope that did not release naturally could be at the ready for human triggering. Be extra vigilant for avalanches that may run full path and impact your position at a lower elevation.
The plethora of new snow, upwards of 100cm, since Monday triggered a natural cycle of colossal scale. Any slope that did not release naturally already should be considered sensitive to human triggering. It would be an incredibly bad day to trigger this problem.
50-100cm of new snow in the Icefields created a storm slab. Expect them to be 20-30 cm deep in Bald Hills area. Recommended to avoid avalanche terrain for 48 hours while this problem stabilizes.
A field patrol to Churchill noted no new naturals in the immediate area. Explosive control on Saturday triggered numerous size 4's running almost full path. South of Churchill slide path, a natural cycle occurred up to size 4.5 with very wide propagations. On Thursday a roadway patrol from the Jasper townsite to Parker Ridge observed numerous wet loose up to size 3.
The Icefield's alpine received 50-100cm of new snow since Monday. 20-30cm at Maligne. In rained below treeline and now its frozen solid. A persistent weak layer of surface hoar and facets is buried 50-150 cm. The midpack is generally well consolidated with facets near the ground. Average snow depths for Icefields is 150-220 cm and Maligne is 60-140 cm.
Expect Monday to be clouds, sunny periods, isolated flurries, -7 °C, and SW 15 gusting 50 km/hr winds. Tuesday may bring 17 cm of snow, -13 °C, and light winds. It could snow another 11cm on Wednesday.
