Avalanche Forecast
Kananaskis Country, Alberta Parks
A few cms of new snow is incoming overnight but this will not be enough to cause a significant change in danger levels. A few large avalanches this past week indicate the basal layers may be starting to wake up.
Avalanche Problem 1: Wind Slabs
What Elevation?
Which Slopes?
Chances of Avalanches?
Expected Size?
Travel and Terrain Advice
- Avoid freshly wind loaded features.
- Avoid steep lee and cross-loaded slopes
- Be careful with wind loaded pockets, especially near ridge crests and roll-overs.
Avalanche Problem 2: Persistent Slabs
What Elevation?
Which Slopes?
Chances of Avalanches?
Expected Size?
Numerous buried weak layers are causing some concern at Treeline. Avalanche activity observed in the past 2 days initiated in the upper snowpack and then steeped down to the persistent slabs.
Travel and Terrain Advice
- Avoid convex rolls at and below treeline where buried surface hoar may be preserved.
- Carefully evaluate terrain features by digging and testing on adjacent, safe slopes.
Avalanche Summary
No new avalanche activity was observed over the past 24hrs. Visibility was limited.
Snowpack Summary
Light flurries were falling throuhgout the day on Wednesday but there was very little accumulations by 1600. Not much is changing out there right now. Widespread windslabs in the alpine should be expected and these windslabs even extend down into treeline in some areas. At treeline and below there are a few surface hoar layers in the top 1m of the snowpack that skiers need to be aware of. Being down less than 1m, they are within the realm of skier triggerring. Use caution in unskied areas, and in steeper or unsupported slopes. THe Nov crust is also a basal layer that we are starting to see sporadic activity on these days. Treat large alpine features with caution.
Weather Forecast
Cloudy with sunny periods and isolated flurries.
Precipitation: Trace.
Alpine temperature: High -6 °C.
Ridge wind west: 30 km/h gusting to 55 km/h.
Freezing level: 1500 metres.
Avalanche Forecasts in your Inbox
Avalanche Canada has switched to an RSS feed for its daily forecasts. This is a much more flexible method that allows automatic delivery to your email inbox, or to an RSS reader of your choice.
What are RSS feeds?
RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is a popular standardized file format allowing up-to-date delivery of web-based content. RSS feeds enable you to receive content updates from websites, delivered to your email through an RSS aggregator (such as blogtrottr.com) or viewed through applications called RSS readers (such as feedly.com).
Set up an RSS feed for your email:
Select a RSS aggregator
- Kananaskis Country, Alberta Parks URL:
http://www.avalanche.ca/api/forecasts/kananaskis.rss - Copy the url and paste it into the appropriate field of your RSS aggregator.
- Fill in your email address.
- Voila! Watch the Avalanche Canada forecast roll into your inbox.
Forecast Disclaimer
Avalanche Canada's Public Avalanche Bulletin, and other information and services provided by Avalanche Canada, are intended for personal and recreational purposes only.
**THIS INFORMATION IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND IN NO EVENT SHALL THE PROVIDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, DAMAGES RESULTING FROM DISCOMFORT, INJURY, OR DEATH, CLAIMS BY THIRD PARTIES OR FOR OTHER SIMILAR COSTS, OR ANY SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, ARISING OUT OF THE USE OF THE INFORMATION.**
The user acknowledges that it is impossible to accurately predict natural events such as avalanches in every instance, and uses the data in this bulletin with this always foremost in mind. The accuracy or reliability of the data is not guaranteed or warranted in any way and the Providers disclaim liability of any kind whatsoever, including, without limitation, liability for quality, performance, merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose arising out of the use, or inability to use the data.
Wind slabs are everywhere in the Alpine and at Treeline, except on windward aspects. Several recent avalanches have occurred associated with this problem.