We skied on Highway 93N in Banff National Park today. We were on the west side of the highway skiing treeline and alpine features on east and north aspects between 1900-2200 m.

This area is sheltered from westerly winds by a large mountain wall to the west. The snowpack where we skied was not affected by the wind. However, higher up in extreme features like cliffs and couloirs there was evidence of an avalanche cycle over the past 24 hours with numerous avalanches between size 1 and 2. Many of these extreme features like couloirs that have been heavily skied recently had flushed out, and the lines that had been skied below these extreme features will have been touched by these avalanches. We saw one size 2 avalanche release out of steep cliffs and it ran onto the slopes below.

In sheltered terrain away from overhead hazard the skiing was still good. Although the snowpack is very thin the melt freeze crust in the mid-pack still carries. That said we skied cautiously with rock skis, used wide skis to help us float over the still rough ground cover, and avoided the thin snowpack zones on the east side of the highway. No need to get hurt this early in the season!