Parks Canada and Alberta Parks are out with a special avalanche warning from today through Sunday for Banff, Yoho, Kootenay and Jasper national parks, along with Kananaskis Country.

They say the snowpack in these areas is ‘complex’ and there have been numerous, unusually large natural and explosive triggered avalanches this year, which has led forecasters to have a low confidence in this year’s snowpack.

Backcountry users with little or no avalanche training are being advised to avoid avalanche terrain or stick to areas that are managed by professionals, and those who are experienced should stick to low angle terrain.

Sunny skies in the forecast and a long weekend will draw people to the mountains, but forecasters don’t expect the weather to stablize the snowpack until early next week.

For more information on the current avalanche forecast, click on “bulletins” here.