Avalanche Forecast
Purcells
Wind slabs at higher elevations are the main concern right now. Reduce your exposure to sunny slopes if the sun makes an appearance.
Avalanche Problem 1: Wind Slabs
What Elevation?
Which Slopes?
Chances of Avalanches?
Expected Size?
Travel and Terrain Advice
- Use ridges or ribs to avoid pockets of wind loaded snow.
- Avoid freshly wind loaded features.
- Give cornices a wide berth when travelling on or below ridges.
Avalanche Problem 2: Loose Wet
What Elevation?
Which Slopes?
Chances of Avalanches?
Expected Size?
Full sun on fresh snow is a recipe for avalanches. Watch for intervals of solar exposure to destabilize slabs as well as promote loose wet avalanche conditions on steeper, sun-exposed slopes.
Travel and Terrain Advice
- Watch for terrain traps where small amounts of snow will acumulate into deep deposits.
- Watch for signs the snow is moistening such as pin wheeling and point-releases below cliffs.
- Avoid exposure to sunny slopes.
Avalanche Summary
On Tuesday several natural size 1 wind slabs, storm slabs and dry loose were reported in steep terrain near Golden, mostly on immediate lee (down wind) slopes. Also on Tuesday, a dry loose avalanche stepped down to a deeper weak layer, resulting in a size 2 avalanche. This was on a north aspect near 2500m.
On Monday, skiers were able to trigger several wind slabs to size 1.5 on steeper west aspects between 1900m and 2400m. Slabs averaged 25-45cm thickness and were not bonding well to the March 19th sun crust.
Looking forward, fresh wind slabs will likely remain reactive to human triggering, especially on immediate down wind features.
Snowpack Summary
Some areas in the north of the region received up to 15 cm of new snow on Tuesday (most areas had only a trace). Winds were gusting strong from the south / west, building fresh wind slabs on down wind (lee) features.
At tree line and above, most of the region's upper snowpack consists of a wind-affected 10-20 cm layer of snow. This sits on previous layers of storm snow that are separated by temperature and sun crusts at lower elevations and on south aspects.
Surface hoar layers have been reported between these old storm snow layers on shaded aspects at higher elevations and can likely now be found at approximately 20 and 40 cm below the surface.
New snow amounts taper quickly with elevation and below about 1900 m, reduced accumulations sit on a supportive crust on all aspects.
Deeper persistent weak layers from mid-late February (down 40 -100 cm deep) as well as January and December layers are generally considered dormant, but could wake up with a surface avalanche stepping down, cornice fall, or a human trigger in a shallow or variable-depth snowpack area. These layers consist of sun crust, surface hoar and/or facets. Facets also linger at the base of the snowpack.
Weather Forecast
We're looking at unsettled weather with cooling temperatures throughout the forecast period.
WEDNESDAY: Mainly sunny with some cloudy periods. Moderate northwest winds 30-50 Km/hr. Freezing level to 1500 metres with alpine high temperatures around -5.
THURSDAY: Cloudy with sunny periods and isolated flurries in the afternoon. Winds becoming light westerly. Freezing level dropping to 1200 metres with alpine high temperatures of -6.
FRIDAY: Cloudy with scattered flurries (5cm possible). Light to moderate west winds. Freezing level 700 metres with alpine high temperatures around -7.
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Strong winds have created wind slabs at higher elevations. Sunny aspects (south through west) are a special concern due to the presence of a buried sun crust, which is acting as an excellent sliding layer.