Avalanche Forecast
Avalanche Bulletin - Glacier National Park
Today is a great day to ride/ski fresh, deep snow in the trees.
Avoid exposing yourself to avalanche terrain.
Avalanche Problem 1: Storm Slabs
What Elevation?
Which Slopes?
Chances of Avalanches?
Expected Size?
Travel and Terrain Advice
- If triggered the storm slabs may step down to deeper layers resulting in large avalanches.
- Use caution in lee areas in the alpine and treeline. Storm snow is forming touchy slabs.
Avalanche Problem 2: Persistent Slabs
What Elevation?
Which Slopes?
Chances of Avalanches?
Expected Size?
These slabs will be most susceptible to triggering in shallow areas. This type of instability will linger for a while yet. The significant storms we've seen recently have overloaded these layers, priming slopes to fail only awaiting a trigger.
Travel and Terrain Advice
- Avoid thin, rocky or unsupported slopes.
- Be aware of the potential for large avalanches due to the presence of buried surface hoar.
Avalanche Problem 3: Cornices
What Elevation?
Which Slopes?
Chances of Avalanches?
Expected Size?
Cornices have become reactive in the last week. Strong winds, fluctuating temperatures and significant snowfall has contributed to these loitering hazards failing.
Travel and Terrain Advice
- Pay attention to overhead hazards like cornices which could easily trigger the deep persistent slab.
- Stay well back from cornices.
Avalanche Summary
Numerous new avalanches observed this morning while driving the highway corridor to work up to size 3.0.
Two days ago a group ascending MacDonald West Shoulder #4 remotely trigger a size 3.0 into NRC Gully from 10m away, the dust cloud settled within a few hundred meters of the highway. Thankfully no one was involved in the avalanche.
Snowpack Summary
30cm in the past 24hrs brings our weekly snowfall to 110cm with a height of settled snow of 330cm at 1900m. Moderate southwest winds have redistributed new snow into pockets of wind slab in the alpine and exposed treeline areas. Persistent weak layers are now buried 150-200cm and a sun crust on steep solar aspects is down 20-40cm.
Weather Forecast
Walking through the 20cm at Rogers Pass parking lot with your favorite pair of Nike shoes would unenjoyable this morning.
Today will bring periods of light snow flurries with sunny breaks, temps ranging from -7 to -11 and 15-30km/hr winds from the southwest. Thursday will be mainly sunny with another pulse of snow arriving early Friday morning.
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30cm of storm snow has been fallen over night with moderate southwest winds building pockets of wind slab in the alpine and exposed treeline locations. The storm slab will be most reactive along ridge lines, convexities and steep unsupported terrain.