Banff Yoho & Kootenay National Park, Alberta

NE Facing Slopes Below Pulpit Peak 7 hours ago Observation Upper pack consists of several buried crust layers that are remaining strongly bonded to date; mid to bottom of pack well consolidated. 3 photos Wednesday April 21st Parks Canada, 12 hours ago Forecast Cathedral mountain 20 hours ago Observation Ascended the alternate approach via trees on slopes to climbers right of the standard south facing access gulley. Frozen snowpack made for a few tricky spots without ski crampons BTL. Looks like some parties are using boot crampons to ascend the standard south facing gulley. Niblock White Col 1 day ago Observation Excellent skiing. Good freeze overnight to valley bottom. We skied the lookers right area, the skin track kisses a sagging snow bridge and our ski tracks cross a few sagging snow bridges so be careful if you head over there. 2 photos Cirque Peak North Couloir 1 day ago Observation Completed the north couloir then traversed East around Cirque Peak. Overnight cool temps made for easy travel up to base of South ridge of Cirque. 2 photos Good spring conditions 1 day ago Observation We took advantage of a good freeze and beautiful spring day to ski Cathedral today. Solid melt freeze crusts exist at lower elevations and on solar aspects making for fast skinning and good cramponing up the south aspect gully this morning. 2 photos Tuesday April 20th Parks Canada, 1 day ago Forecast Monday April 19th Parks Canada, 2 days ago Forecast Recent ski conditions in Rockies -Lake Louise area and 93N 2 days ago Observation April 12-18, an ACMG TAP Apprentice Ski Guide Exam skied a variety of objectives including; Ferris Glacier/Crowfoot Ridge col, Observation Sub Peak, Dolomite NE col, Popes Peak, Cirque Peak, Mt Field, Olive Peak and the Upper Victoria Glacier Weather and Avalanche Conditions The week started with hi… Large Bow Summit Avy 3 days ago Observation Slide happened sometime Saturday. Very large wet slab avalanche, looks to have gone full path and crashed into Peyto Lake. Estimated 20-30m wide and 2-3m deep where summer trail crosses the slide path above the lake. Ground vegetation exposed another 5-10m both sides of the debris. 4 photos Sunday April 18th Parks Canada, 3 days ago Forecast Saturday April 17th Parks Canada, 4 days ago Forecast Friday April 16th Parks Canada, 5 days ago Forecast Avalanche Control on Mt Bosworth, Mt Stephen, Mt Field and Mt Dennis - Saturday, April 17, 2021 5 days ago Observation AVALANCHE CONTROL is planned for Mount Bosworth, Mount Stephen, Mount Field and Mount Dennis in Yoho NP, Saturday, April 17, 2021: No climbing, skiing or other activities in these areas tomorrow. 1 photos Hector 6 days ago Observation Observed from distance on approach to Andromache- dimensions are estimated. Buried numerous old tracks. See photos. 2 photos Thursday April 15th Parks Canada, 6 days ago Forecast Whymper North Bowl 6 days ago Observation Did a CT on a slope right below the bench, got non planar fracture at CT15 then RP at CT25. Below that was extremely consolidated, hardpack snow that could not be broken even jumping on it multiple times. 2 photos Crowfoot 6 days ago Observation Observed 3 size 1 and 2 size 2 loose wet avalanches within 15 minutes just after 10:00am. All started from rock bands on east aspects that had been in the sun for a few hours. As we skied down we observed about 10 more, including another size 2, over the next hour. Bell Couloir 6 days ago Observation Dug a pit in some shallow snow on a N aspect, 165cm. We probed 275cm elsewhere. Unreactive to CT & ECT, however, a shovel shear from behind propagated the entire 90cm column 130cm down on large grain facets. 4 photos Wednesday April 14th Parks Canada, 1 week ago Forecast Cathedral 1 week ago Observation Time: 11:15 Location: Cathedral Shoulder Elevation: 2450m 3 photos Dolomite Circuit 1 week ago Observation Started cold, reached the sun just below Katherine Lake and it warmed up noticeably. No instabilities noted on our trip but we saw debris from an avalanche triggered by a large cornice collapse east of Cirque Peak that slid over some ski tracks (background of 2nd photo). 3 photos Tuesday April 13th Parks Canada, 1 week ago Forecast Stanley Peak cornice failure 1 week ago Observation Observed a large cornice failure on Mt Stanley at 1011 hrs Tuesday morning. This appears to have triggered a deep persistent slab on the basal facets. Occured between the normal North Face route and the Waterman Couloir. 1 photos Stanley North face 1 week ago Observation Had a look at the Nemesis shortcut traverse ledge but found an eerily similar snowpack there to the Haddo incident. 10cm of unconsolidated powder on a nice firm 50cm midpack on top of facets to ground. Quick hand pit had the column fail on isolation. Narao Peak - Narao Left 1 week ago Observation Saw an older avalanche on the ~ east facing slope in the alpine as you approach Narao. It appeared to have a larger crown that created another larger crown further down the slope after going over a cliff. See the picture in the report. 4 photos Monday April 12th Parks Canada, 1 week ago Forecast Little Hector Slide / Hector Ski 1 week ago Observation New storm snow around the 5 to 10cm range was observed in the Alpine around Mount Hector that had recently fallen. We experienced settling and cracking in the montane, due to punching through near exposed rocks. The radius of the shooting cracks was about 1m. 1 photos Dolomite Loop 1 week ago Observation Pit near top of ascent to Dolomite Pass in a shaded NW aspect: CT 11 down at 25 cm; CT H (wailin' hard) down at 110 cm; then shovel shear (planar) at 60 cm; ECT resistant, no result. Overcast skies, light NW wind (moderate at the pass), - 5 temp, 25 deg slope. 1 photos Whymper North 1 week ago Observation Great skiing on north aspect. 10cm of low density snow down low, up to 30 cm in alpine sitting on supportive crust. Storm snow felt pretty well bonded. Turned around 50 m from Whymper col due to concern about snow feeling more slabby and a bit of wind effect. Sunday April 11th Parks Canada, 1 week ago Forecast Pope's col 1 week ago Observation Amazing skiing in deep powder . Didn't any observe any instabilities. Dug a pit on a northern aspect about 1. 5 meters down. We did a colum test with no results. Snowpack went from low density on the surface to dense lower down, with no obvious weak layers observed. Saturday April 10th Parks Canada, 1 week ago Forecast Friday April 9th Parks Canada, 1 week ago Forecast Thursday April 8th Parks Canada, 1 week ago Forecast Bow Summit Glades 2 weeks ago Observation Quick trip up into the glades. Crusty leaving the parking lot. Conditions improve as you climb. But overall a dust on crust situation. New snow this evening may improve things.