Miette Lake Area Feb 18th-24th

Parks Canada Visitor Safety , Sunday 25th February, 2024 4:10PM

Jasper Visitor Safety ventured into Miette Lake area between February 18th and 24th. Total accumulation of snow during the period was 10 by- 15 cm. This new snow was being redistributed by strong westerly winds on February 23-24. Several natural wind slabs to size 2 in the alpine and tree line lee slopes (some triggered by cornice failures) observed in the last two days of the trip. On the last day, first skier in the group managed to trigger a small size 1 wind slab, running on the early February crust up to 30 cm deep. Ski quality was quite terrible on steep solar slopes with a 2cm sun crust on the surface. Shaded and sheltered slopes skied quite well with 20- 30 cm of soft snow on top of the supportive February crust at tree line and below. Average height of snow at tree line was 100- 120 cm except for wind scoured slopes.