Avalanche Forecast
Avalanche Bulletin - Banff, Yoho, and Kootenay National Parks
Sluffing is becoming an issue as the surface snow facets. Dress warm and enjoy the holidays!
Avalanche Problem 1: Wind Slabs
What Elevation?
Which Slopes?
Chances of Avalanches?
Expected Size?
Travel and Terrain Advice
- Watch for areas of hard wind slab in steep alpine features.
Avalanche Problem 2: Loose Dry
What Elevation?
Which Slopes?
Chances of Avalanches?
Expected Size?
The cold temperatures are facetting the surface snow and allowing loose dry avalanches to run further than expected in steep terrain. So far they are still very small, but stay aware of this in confined gullies or when skiing steep terrain.
Avalanche Summary
Only a few small thin wind slabs and loose dry sluffs out of steep terrain have been reported over the last four days.
Snowpack Summary
Upper snow-pack is facetting with the cold temperatures and starting to sluff easily in steep terrain. Some thin, hard wind slabs observed in lee areas in the alpine. The Dec.15 layer of surface hoar (below 2100m) and hard surfaces or facets (depending on location) is down 15-30 cm. Some moderate shears have been observed around this interface.
Weather Forecast
The arctic air continues to be entrenched over us for the foreseeable future. At treeline overnight lows will be in the low -20's with day time highs in the -16 to -14 range. Expect light to moderate winds from the NW with a mix of sun and cloud. A few isolated flurries are forecast for Wednesday but no significant accumulations are expected.
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Wind slabs are present in alpine lee areas. So far these have been small and slow to move when triggered, but they could be a concern in steep confined terrain.