Avalanche Bulletin
Banff, Yoho and Kootenay National Parks

Issued: Sunday, March 15, 2009   15:05
Valid Until: Monday, March 16, 2009   1630

Bulletin 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.

Parks Canada strongly recommends that the general public avoid areas where the avalanche danger 
rating is HIGH or EXTREME. Any travel in these areas should be restricted to Simple terrain or 
kept within the boundaries of a ski resort.

Danger Rating: 	Sunday 			Monday 			Tuesday 	
Alpine 			3-Considerable 	3-Considerable 	3-Considerable
Treeline 		3-Considerable 	3-Considerable 	3-Considerable
Below Treeline 	2-Moderate 		2-Moderate 		2-Moderate

Synopsis:

Isolated cells producing very localized amounts of storm snow have been occurring over the last 
few days. Along the divide there can be upwards of 40cm above 2400m. This is coupled with periods 
of moderate to strong wind mostly from the SW. This leads us to our first concern in the snow pack.

There will be windslabs up to 50cm deep in lee areas below ridge line. They will only get deeper 
as this precipitation event continues overnight with the moderate SW wind. By tomorrow we can 
expect to see many plump slabs that will be triggered easily by riders.

Deeper instabilities should not be ignored just yet. With this added load of storm snow it remains 
possible to have step down avalanches that start with the new wind slabs and subsequently trigger 
the deeper instabilities like the Jan 27 surface hoar/facet combo, or ultimately the November 
facets.

Route selection should be on the conservative side early this week. Ski quality is fairly good 
at and below treeline so safer and lower elevation options with low consequence may be in order.

Avalanche Activity:

 No reported avalanche activity today.

Outlook:

 The precipitation is expected to continue overnight, and will taper off by tomorrow morning. For 
 the rest of the week we should see intermittent snow showers with accumulations being less than 2 
 to 4 centimeters at a time. The avalanche danger should remain at the current level through this 
 weather pattern.

Travel Conditions:

 The skiing was excellent today, but poor visibility made it hard to enjoy it. When you can get far 
 enough below ridge line (and the stiff slabs) skiing is quite nice with low density snow about 
 20cm deep. AB