Avalanche Forecast
Avalanche Bulletin - Banff, Yoho, and Kootenay National Parks
Conditions are touchy right now. Somewhere between High and Considerable and forecasters are debating which category they fall into. Regardless, it is a good time to stay out of avalanche terrain!
Avalanche Problem 1: Persistent Slabs
What Elevation?
Which Slopes?
Chances of Avalanches?
Expected Size?
Travel and Terrain Advice
- Avoid all avalanche terrain.
- Watch for whumpfing, hollow sounds, shooting cracks or recent avalanches.
Avalanche Problem 2: Storm Slabs
What Elevation?
Which Slopes?
Chances of Avalanches?
Expected Size?
20-40cm of storm snow (and wind) has developed a slab at higher elevations. If triggered this layer has the potential to step down to deeper instabilities. Continue to make conservative route choices.
Travel and Terrain Advice
- Avoid exposure to overhead avalanche terrain, large avalanches may reach the end of run out zones.
- The new snow will require several days to settle and stabilize.
Avalanche Summary
Forecasters remote triggered a size 2.5 today on the Icefields Parkway. They triggered it from ~ 50m away on a low angle ridge. The slide was ~ 300m wide, 80 cm deep and slid on a well preserved surface hoar layer (Jan. 6th). A solo skiier in the Lake Louise backcountry had a very close call today when he triggered a size 2 and was partially buried
Snowpack Summary
20 - 30 cm of low density snow with little wind sits on the surface. The main concern in the snowpack lurks below and continues to be the 3 persistent weak layers of surface hoar and/or facets that are found between 50 and 100cm down. We continue to observe sudden test results, whumphing and large propagations on these layers.
Weather Forecast
Tuesday should be mostly clear with light winds. The next storm is moving in Wednesday/ Thursday with 20-30 cm 's of snow, rising temps and strong west winds. We expect the danger to rise significantly at that time.
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Three weak layers exist in the upper snowpack: Jan 16, Jan 6, and Dec 15. All are a mix of sun crust, surface hoar and facets depending on the aspect and elevation. 50-100 cm of snow over the last week has overloaded these layers.