Mountain Conditions Summary for October 26
A moist, cool and winter weather pattern will be the trend through the
weekend.
Lake Louise presently has light snow falling, and the Bow Valley from Lake
Louise through to Canmore is experiencing high winds, up to 130km/hr at
ridgetop. Expect the 5-10 cm of storm snow and the previous thin snowpack to
be extensively redistributed with the high winds. There may be pockets of
windslab, and expect quite variable snow cover in the alpine and at treeline
(bare in wind exposed areas, and loaded on lee slopes).
The Icefields area received 10-15 cm of snow overnight. Start to think winter,
avalanches, and watch for thinly bridged crevasses on the glaciers.
It has been snowing all day at Rogers Pass, with 10-15 cm of wet new snow at
treeline. The storm is presently building a good snowpack base, and hopefully
the precipitation keeps coming.
The forecast is for wet and cool weather for the interior ranges (Rockies /
Columbias) on Friday and Saturday. Sunday and Monday look to be substantially
cooler, with sub-zero high temperatures in the Banff and Jasper townsites, and
lows down to -13 deg C.
The combination of wet weather and cooling temperatures should do good things
for waterfall ice formation.
Jordy Shepherd
Mountain Guide
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