Icefields
Avalanche Forecast
Published: May 4th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Published: May 4th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Loose Wet, Deep Persistent Slabs, Cornices.
Published: May 1st, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Loose Wet, Deep Persistent Slabs.
Published: Apr 29th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Loose Wet, Deep Persistent Slabs.
Published: Apr 29th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Loose Wet, Deep Persistent Slabs.
Published: Apr 28th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Loose Wet, Deep Persistent Slabs.
Published: Apr 27th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Loose Wet, Wind Slabs, Deep Persistent Slabs.
Published: Apr 26th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Loose Wet, Wind Slabs, Deep Persistent Slabs.
Published: Apr 25th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Loose Wet, Wind Slabs, Deep Persistent Slabs.
Published: Apr 25th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Deep Persistent Slabs, Wind Slabs.
Published: Apr 24th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Deep Persistent Slabs.
Published: Apr 23rd, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs, Deep Persistent Slabs.
Published: Apr 22nd, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs, Deep Persistent Slabs.
Published: Apr 21st, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs, Deep Persistent Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Apr 19th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs, Deep Persistent Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Apr 17th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs, Deep Persistent Slabs.
Published: Apr 16th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs, Persistent Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Apr 15th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs, Persistent Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Apr 14th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs, Persistent Slabs, Deep Persistent Slabs.
Published: Apr 12th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs, Persistent Slabs, Deep Persistent Slabs.
Published: Apr 11th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs, Persistent Slabs, Deep Persistent Slabs.
Published: Apr 11th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs, Persistent Slabs, Cornices.
Published: Apr 10th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs, Persistent Slabs, Cornices.
Published: Apr 10th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs, Persistent Slabs, Cornices.
Published: Apr 9th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs, Persistent Slabs, Cornices.
Published: Apr 8th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs, Persistent Slabs, Cornices.
Published: Apr 7th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Loose Wet, Cornices.
Published: Apr 6th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Loose Wet, Cornices.
Published: Apr 6th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Loose Wet, Cornices.
Published: Apr 5th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Loose Wet, Cornices.
Published: Apr 4th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Loose Wet, Cornices.
Published: Apr 3rd, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Deep Persistent Slabs, Storm Slabs, Loose Dry.
Published: Apr 2nd, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Deep Persistent Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Apr 1st, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Deep Persistent Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Mar 31st, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Deep Persistent Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Mar 30th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Deep Persistent Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Mar 29th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Deep Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 28th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Loose Wet, Deep Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 27th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Loose Wet, Deep Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 27th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Loose Wet, Storm Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 26th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Loose Wet, Wind Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 25th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Loose Wet, Wind Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 24th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs, Persistent Slabs, Deep Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 23rd, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs, Persistent Slabs, Deep Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 23rd, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs, Persistent Slabs, Deep Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 22nd, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Wind Slabs, Deep Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 21st, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Wind Slabs, Deep Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 20th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Wind Slabs, Deep Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 19th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Wind Slabs, Deep Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 19th, 2025snow profile - behind Hilda Hostel xmas trees treeline
Snow profile from JNP VS team. Behind Hilda hostel approx 100m at treeline just before the tree wall/xmas trees.
Parks Canada Visitor Safety,
Monday 8th January, 2024 9:00AM
Wind hammered approach to McKibben
Difficult skinning on the approach to the Athabasca Andromeda Buttress this morning with wind hammered slopes largely scoured free of snow in many places.
No signs of instability on the approach and McKibben route. Strong gusty winds and light snow on and off through the day.
iwelsted,
Thursday 4th January, 2024 9:30PM
Hilda
Alpine was thin and wind affected. The glades towards the creek had untouched powder but there was no base and lots of saplings and deadfall not covered. Probably would have be better to ski the mellow ridge line but it was pretty farmed. Ski out the creek was good.
Patrick,
Tuesday 2nd January, 2024 9:30AM
Parker Ridge
Not a lot of snow in the Parker Ridge Area. Early season hazards likes rocks and trees loom just under the surface. The snowpack below tree line was surprising supportive to skis. The alpine remains wind scoured. Some whumpfing felt at tree-line in thin to thick rocky areas.
Parks Canada Visitor Safety,
Tuesday 26th December, 2023 3:30PM
Hilda sz 1.5 PS
Lots of whumpfing and associated cracking in loaded lees and X loaded features at TL and ALP. 1x sz 1.5 Persistent Slab on terminal moraine on Hilda creek egress trail. See photos and Avalanche tab for more info.
joe.h ,
Monday 18th December, 2023 10:00AM
Parker and Hilda Ridge
Parks Canada Visitor Safety,
Thursday 14th December, 2023 2:20PM
Hilda Ridge
Parks Canada Visitor Safety,
Tuesday 12th December, 2023 2:30PM
Wind slabs and powder
As expected there was a lot of wind affect in unprotected areas which created some very stiff wind slabs. Skiing them was no fun, and at the top of the ridge the wind created sastrugi. However, the wind slabs didn’t seem to be reactive at all and we didn’t hear any wumpfs even in the powder. The powder was very nice and soft in the trees, but it was quite short.
Day was filled with wind, lots of flurries in and out and also some blue sky. Quite warm, -3 at the car.
andrew.moldovan1991,
Sunday 10th December, 2023 7:10PM
Melt Out
Good condition but with variable sections of ice. Climbing well in general. Wet on last pitch.
Parks Canada Visitor Safety,
Sunday 10th December, 2023 4:10PM
Heavy Spindrift at Weeping Wall
iwelsted,
Sunday 10th December, 2023 11:50AM
Boundary Lake Ain't Ready
Went for a walk on skis into Boundary Lake. Its well worth the views but not worth it for the skiing just yet. We found an average HS of 50cm but it was soft and unsupportive to skis. This meant there were a lot of hazards lurking beneath for the way down.
We travelled mostly between 2000 - 2200m and the Dec 2nd PWL could be found on all aspects as combinations of either surface hoar, facets or crust. However, most locations at these elevations didn't have enough slab on top or enough slope continuity. This meant there wasn't enough of a snowpack to cover all the sharks yet.
We did find a smaller isolated wind effected slope BLT to test for this weak layer. (See photo) and the surface hoar was present below the recent storm snow and sitting above old wind slab.
colawinter,
Saturday 9th December, 2023 11:10AM
Parker Christmas Trees
Best turns of the year so far, but watch out for buried hazards, and avalanches.
Parks Canada Visitor Safety,
Wednesday 6th December, 2023 3:00PM
Windy Athabasca
iwelsted,
Wednesday 29th November, 2023 9:38PM
Hilda Ridge Ski Hike
Whumpfing everywhere, all day!
Went for a hike on the skis and found an average HS of 40cm and supportive to skis. Winds were blowing all morning and died down by the afternoon. Southerly aspects were being heated up by 1pm at 2300m and the top 2cm of snow was moist. By 2pm down at 2000m the top 5cm of snow was moist and heavy on the skis.
nicnicwinter,
Wednesday 29th November, 2023 9:37PM
Parker’s ridge
Did a couple laps up around Parker’s today. Let’s summarize. Usually a fun sayings is max din, minimal skill. Today was more so minimum snow, moderate wind. Between the sastrugi and visible grass for moments I thought I was in the prairies. If someone tells you they found good turns around here lately you should probably go buy some beach front property next to them in Arizona. Today was a game of rock, paper, base layer. We all know it’s been a low snow start to this season and hurts seeing those social media memories from a few years back reminding us how we were previously able to find some good turns vs this seasons post holing to ankle deep before hitting ground. The summer trail is what we followed with the fence still being mid thigh although I’m not one to duck under many things and mid thigh isn’t very high usually around this time the fence is just popping up in areas. I would give it a few more storms before returning to protect the vegetation and the edges. Overall good to get out and get some fitness in but the snow depth prevented me from digging in the pack and getting a probed measurement of snow as it was extremely variable from wind transport, pockets of snow, wind slab, grass and rocks.
true.masur,
Wednesday 29th November, 2023 9:37PM
Shades of Beauty
Calm weather with limited to no wind, no precip and ice conditions were good. A bit wet on pitch 3. As you can see in the photos, snow going up to the ice and above in the mountains was limited. Great day out.
travelers_spirit,
Wednesday 29th November, 2023 9:36PM
Shades of Beauty Area
Shades of Beauty: In good shape overall, P2 (steepest pitch) had more brittle ice and required heavy cleaning and felt more like WI4+ in current conditions.
Rick Blak: Climbed well but felt very delicate, stubbies needed and not much significant protection for the first 10m.
Stanley Falls: We didn't climb it but there is ice top to bottom but looks to be in challenging condition.
ethan_woodside,
Wednesday 29th November, 2023 9:36PM
Shallow snow pack
Brad Schalles,
Monday 24th April, 2023 9:15PM
AA Buttress approach slopes
<p>Supportive crust under 20cms of foot pen on the walk up to the AA Buttress on north facing slope. We rappelled the route to avoid the walk.off on the aspect that had a skier accidental ten days ago. We took the most conservative line possible against the rocks on the way up but after spending the day in the snow felt confident walking down the side of an easier line on a more open slope on descent. Left the avy gear at the base of the climbing on the way up. Fun mixed route</p>
iwelsted,
Sunday 23rd April, 2023 10:50AM
Columbia Icefields
<p>Overhead aspects were failing greatly this morning, the snow dome seracs were breaking off frequently through out the night and morning. Snow bridging was sub-optimal and had a few punch throughs with skis. Navigation through upper ice falls is more difficult than in previous years.</p>
aidanbooker,
Saturday 22nd April, 2023 2:30PM
Cold Powder with a View
Parks Canada Visitor Safety,
Tuesday 18th April, 2023 4:40PM
Hilda Whumphs
<p>As yesterday’s MIN noted, conditions were a bit touchy at Hilda. Heard 3 large whumphs on the uptrack at the upper treeline. Saw the whole snowpack settle around us though nothing cracked or moved. We were in very mellow terrain. All three were on S facing aspects. Did a lap on the alpine NE facing aspect and that was pretty wind affected but the terrain was mellow enough to not worry about the generous helping of wind slabs. Heard another whoompf here. Terrain selection was super important today as I believe these could easily have remote triggered some overhead hazard. Ski down the glades and trees was fun on the N and E aspects as the snow was soft but supportive </p>
andrew.moldovan1991,
Sunday 16th April, 2023 5:10PM
Hilda Ridge
<p>We had the intention today to ski Hilda Ridge. We saw and considered the snow profile that Parks put as a min report yesterday (thank you!), and the depth hoar was terrifying to see (this had an impact on our willingness to take risks today).
Once we got to about 2/3rd of the way to the peak, getting to the section that becomes steeper and more exposed, we did a hand shear to help make a decision. At this point we had already heard whumpfing. The hand sheer was very disconcerting. It was on a south facing aspect, and at least a foot deep into the snow pack a plainer broke off very easily. Under the plainer the snow was very sugary for a ways deep (didn't notice how deep it goes). This was enough for us to decide that we weren't willing to take the risk, and decided to turn around. The ski back was wind wrecked, with an unpredictably solid (ish) crust. </p>
laurenheckley,
Saturday 15th April, 2023 11:50AM
Hilda Ridge Snow Profile
Parks Canada Visitor Safety,
Thursday 13th April, 2023 2:50PM
Mt. Athabasca Skier Avalanche
Parks Canada Visitor Safety,
Thursday 13th April, 2023 2:50PM
Parker Ridge
<p>Snow was quite variable overall. At the car it was a thin breakable crust on top of about a meter of sugary, unsupportive snow. In sheltered trees we found some good, dry powder overlying a thicker, supportive crust that we generally didn’t hit. Anything unsheltered had wind slabs with dinner plate sized thin slabs breaking off. Immediate lee of the ridge was all wind slab, and the ridge itself was completely scoured. Took my skis off to walk along for some views. Overall a warm day, maybe 2 at the car, around 0 at the top. Light winds in the forest, heavy winds at the ridgetop. Cloudy, with a few patches of blue sky around.</p>
andrew.moldovan1991,
Friday 7th April, 2023 8:30PM
Athabasca Glacier
<p>Jasper Visitor Safety Team walked up the Athabasca glacier as far as the first icefall. Height of snow (HS) was an average of 90-165 on the glacier with large sections of bare ice in more wind exposed areas. The lookers left route up the lower icefalls of the Athabasca looks thin with minimal bridging across the crevasses. The main ramp at the top is also narrower than usual for the time of the year. We observed a few older ski tracks coming out from the Columbia Icefields on the lookers right of the glacier underneath the serac wall.</p>
TT skis,
Monday 3rd April, 2023 2:50PM
Mushroom Slide Paths
<p>Variable ski conditions depending on aspect and elevation.</p>
Parks Canada Visitor Safety,
Tuesday 28th March, 2023 3:30PM
Coleman Area
<p>Great powder snow found on north aspect in Coleman area, between 2700m and 2000m. Snow became crustier below that elevation. East facing slopes were more variable with a variety of sun/wind layers and some bottomless facets until about 2100 where travel became easy. Shooting cracks were observed suspected facets failing under the recent sun crust. </p>
liski,
Sunday 26th March, 2023 6:40PM
Mt Amery Highway obs
<p>Viewed powder cloud from highway 93N hitting the bottom of the upper basin of Mt Amery </p>
SBK102,
Tuesday 21st March, 2023 3:40PM
Stutfield glacier
<p>Natural release from most likely heavily sun exposed (SE exposure) point just below the Stutfield glacier proper.</p>
jasperfreeridecam,
Saturday 18th March, 2023 8:20PM
Parkers Summer
<p>Good snow found in sheltered areas below 2100m. Above this the snow became more wind pressed, but still surprisingly still soft enough to ski. Skied mellow terrain around the summer trail. Gully is pretty skied out. </p>
liski,
Thursday 16th March, 2023 4:40PM
Busy day on the Parkway
Parks Canada Visitor Safety,
Wednesday 15th March, 2023 4:50PM
Shades of Beauty, Photo of Stanley Falls Senior & Curtain Call
<p>Temperatures ranged from -6 in the morning to -1 in the afternoon. Consistent S-1 (less than 1cm/ hour) snowfall throughout the day with calm winds. P1 & P2 had brittle ice and P3 contained wet ice on either side of the most obvious climbing line. The snowpack at the base of the climb was rotten with facets, but the packed in trail provided good travel. Great pro and fun day out. </p>
tsr.yau,
Monday 13th March, 2023 8:10PM
Hi Marcus et al. (Hilda laps)
<p>Skied lower portion of hilda. Found isolated wind slab 4-15cm thick. Nothing reactive above treeline.</p>
griff,
Saturday 18th February, 2023 8:30PM
Hilda Ridge
Parks Canada Visitor Safety,
Thursday 2nd February, 2023 3:40PM
Avalanche opposite weeping wall
natwalkom,
Wednesday 25th January, 2023 2:30PM
Mushroom Slide Paths
<p>Skied the slide paths off mushroom peak. HS was 80 at 2000m, with a mix of basal facets, a temperature crust (up to 2000m on ESE aspects), and surface facets. Skiing was relatively unsupported, especially at lower elevations. However, there were some good turns to be had with a good attitude! Evidence of old avalanche debris was observed in two of the most northern slide paths. Weather was warm (hovering around -5) with moderate SW winds moving snow in the ALP. </p>
Brooklyn Rushton,
Monday 23rd January, 2023 5:10PM
PR Slopes Ski
<p>Mellow slopes of PR paths produced some decent skiing. We only worked our way up to 2130 m.
Moderate to hard compression test results down 22 cm on December facet layer.
Snowpack generally supportive to skis but not to boot.</p>
jaspervisitor.safety,
Tuesday 17th January, 2023 3:10PM
Parkers
<p>Nice day out at Parkers. 10-20cm of soft over a firm mush base. Stuck to low angle, mellow terrain. Moody weather with a dusting of snow and light west winds. One apparent avalanche or serac fall was heard but seen, and was thereby difficult to verify or characterize. No other signs of instability.</p>
Steven Noël,
Monday 16th January, 2023 6:10PM
Parker Study Plot
<p>Jasper VS dug a profile at their Parker Ridge study plot.
No propagation on the persistent weak layer down 30 cm (Dec 30th) in extended column test.
compression test had repeatable easy resistant planar results down 11 cm and hard sudden collapse results on the December 17th persistent weak layer down 30 cm.
Bottom 50 cm consist of facets and depth hoar.</p>
jaspervisitor.safety,
Friday 13th January, 2023 1:20PM
Boundary Lake
<p>Skied a number of laps both north and south of the lake. Below treeline snow was super faceted and unsupportive to skies (50cm snowpack depth and ski penetration of 30+ cm) lots of whumpfing in the flats and easily pushing pole basket to ground.. At treeline depth was 100cm. Pockets of soft windslab and 10-20cm fist snow on top of a supportive four finger layer ~10cm thick on top of low density snow to ground. Best skiing of the day by far was low angle open trees at treeline.</p>
AndrewfromJasper,
Sunday 8th January, 2023 6:20PM
Ski Conditions South Jasper / North Banff Parks
Jordy Shepherd,
Tuesday 3rd January, 2023 8:15AM
Slide Paths
<p>Surface hoar layer still very present in lower elevation. No wind affect observed. With the thin snowpack, surface hoar layer and basal facets snow was not overly supportive, pretty slow skiing. Avoided convex rolls and steep slopes. River crossing at Coleman DUA not cross able. Saw one dry loose come down out of steep terrain on solar aspect south of weeping wall.
</p>
liski,
Monday 12th December, 2022 6:30PM
Mushroom
<p>Found buried surface hoar layer at treeline and below down 35cm, reactive to hand shears. We observed shooting cracks and whoomphing in sheltered TL as well. </p>
jgmyers7,
Thursday 8th December, 2022 4:10PM
Hilda
<p>Braved the cold for the afternoon at Hilda. Moderate winds seemed to be coming from the north. Above treeline the wind had moved enough snow to blow in the skin track set by a party ahead of us.
Variable, thin windslabs on east facing aspects in the alpine, powder treeline and below on all aspects. The more southern facing slopes also held good snow.</p>
liski,
Monday 28th November, 2022 10:17PM
K2 surface hoar factory
TT skis,
Monday 28th November, 2022 9:15PM
Hilda
<p>Braved the cold for the afternoon at Hilda. Moderate winds seemed to be coming from the north. Above treeline the wind had moved enough snow to blow in the skin track set by a party ahead of us.
Variable, thin windslabs on east facing aspects in the alpine, powder treeline and below on all aspects. The more southern facing slopes also held good snow.</p>
liski,
Monday 28th November, 2022 9:15PM
Beauty Creek
BetterHalf,
Friday 25th November, 2022 9:30AM
Nigel Basin Nov 20
<p>Little walk up into Nigel Basin - good travel from Parker’s ridge parking lot - creek not yet bridged but found a suitable crossing location. Solar effect is evident with a 1-2cm MFCr on southern aspects. Wind effect prominent above treeline with 15-20cm thick wind crust. The wind crust areas are completely faceted below. Snowpack probed to a depth of 58cm at approx 2200m. Finally, just for good measure, evidence of ~10mm surface hoar buried 3-5cm in the vicinity of the sheltered areas around 2000m. Just a few things to keep an eye on during the next storm cycle… but the sun was shining and the winds were minimal today so a beauty day to get out there - of course some p-tex was left behind - perhaps pleasing Ullr. </p>
Greg Rantala,
Monday 21st November, 2022 9:30AM