Just returned from 3 days of ski touring/mountaineering out of the Fryatt Hut with Jasper Visitor Safety team.

Over the 3 days we received 15cm of new snow that was redistributed in the alpine by moderate westerly winds, creating pockets of wind slab at ridge crest. The new snow was bonding well to the previously wind affected surfaces.

The HS at Tree Line and Alpine was highly variable ranging from scoured surfaces to 400cm on the lee aspect. The alpine snowpack consisted of 5-15cm of low density snow over 15-70cm of dense (1F-P) snow, this is sitting on basal facets and depth hoar.

Below Tree Line received approximately 4cm of new snow and this was sitting on a supportive melt freeze crust.

We witnessed numerous loose dry avalanches in steep alpine features up to Sz 1. There was evidence of a few wet slab avalanches in the BTL elevations from previous warming events.

Our main concerns in the snowpack where newly formed wind slab and basal facets in thin to thick areas in the alpine.

The Athabasca River was frozen at our crossing location and navigated easily.