Avalanche Forecast
Avalanche Bulletin - Banff, Yoho, and Kootenay National Parks
Saturday looks like a great day to be out in the mountains, but the avalanche risk is elevated because of Friday's storm. Stick with more conservative terrain choices until better information is known about how the new snow is bonding.
Avalanche Problem 1: Wind Slabs
What Elevation?
Which Slopes?
Chances of Avalanches?
Expected Size?
Travel and Terrain Advice
- Be careful with wind loaded pockets, especially near ridge crests and roll-overs.
- Use caution in lee areas in the alpine and treeline. Recent storm snow has formed wind slabs.
Avalanche Problem 2: Persistent Slabs
What Elevation?
Which Slopes?
Chances of Avalanches?
Expected Size?
The buried March 15th sun crust is down 25-50cm and has provided a good sliding layer for several skier triggered avalanches over the past week. The new snow load may make this more touchy so avoid steep solar aspects until this has a chance to bond.
Travel and Terrain Advice
- Dig down to find and test weak layers before committing to a line.
- Watch for signs of instability such as whumpfing, or cracking.
Avalanche Summary
Some explosive triggered wind slabs up to size 2 where observed at the local ski areas Friday but observations were limited. Thursday there were a few cornice triggered wind slabs up to size 2 in the Bow Hut area and Sunshine Village. Several skier triggered slides on steep solar aspects have occurred in the past week on the persistent sun crust.
Snowpack Summary
10-20 cm of new snow on Friday with strong W winds has formed wind slabs in lee features down to treeline. The March 15 sun crust is down 30-50 cm on solar aspects and has been sensitive to skier triggering over the last week. The mid- pack and basal layers have been dormant, but shallow facetted snowpack areas are still worth treating cautiously.
Weather Forecast
A clearing trend is expected on Saturday with light winds and cool temperatures between -10 and -15'C during the day. Sunday will see a 3-5 cm's of new snow, continued light winds and slightly warmer temperatures.
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
- Avalanche Bulletin - Banff, Yoho, and Kootenay National Parks URL:
http://www.avalanche.ca/api/forecasts/banff-yoho-kootenay.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.
The new snow Friday arrived with strong SW winds and formed wind slabs in lee areas. Some older wind slabs will now be buried in specific features at upper elevations as well. This new snow will need a few days to settle and bond.