Good skiing in Jasper right now. We've received 30cm of new low density
snow with minimal wind affect in the past 3 days. Skiing on Destiny Ridge,
Hilda Ridge and the Parker Ridge area is characterized by 15-30cm of new
snow sitting on a supportive midpack. Coverage is a little lean, but
improving. Skiing in the Churchill slide paths today was very good - easy
travel along the river and up to 40cm of new snow below treeline with
minimal wind affect.
Our main concerns are loose dry avalanches shedding out of steep terrain at
all elevations and new windslabs in exposed areas at upper elevations. We
observed no new avalanches in the past 2 days and no signs of instability
with skier traffic. The avalanche danger is currently rated at
Considerable in the Alpine and Moderate at treeline and below. We expect
this to increase, especially in the Southern areas of the forecast region
(Columbia Icefield Area) with the expected snowfall amounts of an
additional 45cm by Monday evening.
We did avoid pushing into a steep alpine feature today after finding a hard
slab 40cm thick underneath the new storm snow and sitting on about 60cm of
sugary facets. This was found on an East aspect at 2150m on an exposed
ridgecrest and produced easy and sudden compression test results. This is
a bit of an anomoly from what we've seen in the past week, but is a good
reminder that there is a low probability high consequence scenario in
isolated locations.
Enjoy the new snow and good skiing. Stay tuned to the avalanche bulletin
for the most up to date conditions as the storm hits the weekend.
Max Darrah, ACMG AG/ASG
Visitor Safety | Sécurité Publique
Jasper National Park of Canada | Parc national du Canada Jasper
Parks Canada | Parcs Canada
P.O. Box 10, Jasper AB T0E 1E0 | C.P. 10, Jasper (Alberta) T0E 1E0
Max.Darrah@xxxxxxxx
Telephone | Téléphone 780-852-6289
Facsimile | Télécopieur 780-852-4775
Government of Canada | Gouvernement du Canada
www.pc.gc.ca/jasper
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