Parks Canada Bulletin
(Not issued by the CAA)

Banff, Kootenay and  Yoho National Parks
Avalanche Bulletin
Date / Time Issued:   February 11th, 2003 at 1500**
Valid  Until:   February 12th
 
Forecast Area:  

This forecast covers the east and west sides of the Continental Divide from the Wapta Icefields 
area in the north to the Sunshine area in the south. It also includes the Main Range area from 
Lake Louise to Bow Summit. 

Danger Rating: 

Alpine Considerable 
Treeline Considerable 
Below Treeline Moderate 

Discussion:   

The high pressure weather continues, so only light winds have been happening for the last few 
days. Some thin wind slab is being produced, but this is mostly inconsequential at the moment. 
There were no reports either of any new slide activity resulting from the strong solar radiation 
we are getting. But despite the apparent lack of overt signs of instability, our forecast will 
continue to carry a message of serious caution. This is because the skier triggered avalanches 
that occurred in our area this past weekend were a warning of the level of instability that exists 
in our snowpack. What is noteworthy is the relatively minimal amount of new snow loading that 
occurred over the days prior to that cycle. In addition, most of the field stability tests at the 
time were in the moderate to hard ranges. In other words, the common field tests were not exactly 
a alerting us to the possibility of the sort of wide propagations that actually took place. For 
that matter, neither were the avalanche observations. So where does this put us? Nothing much has 
changed. Settlement and strengthening of the pack appears to be extremely slow, and just because 
there isn’t any new loading doesn’t mean it won’t go! Things do not look likely to change in the 
near future.  
  
Outlook:   

The same weather pattern is expected to stay with us for at least a few more days. The avalanche 
forecast will be slow to change.  

Travel Conditions:   

Trail breaking in the snowpack on low angled terrain at treeline and above is described as good. 
Untracked snow at lower elevations may be soft, or even wet on some aspects during midday. ta