Kootenay Boundary

The snowpack structure in the region doesn't inspire much confidence. Check out our Forecasters' Blog here for our advice on managing the problem.

Moderate - Due to the number of field observations

Saturday night: Mainly cloudy with isolated flurries and a possible trace of new snow. Light northeast winds.Sunday: Mainly cloudy. Light northeast winds. Alpine high temperatures around -7.Monday: Mainly cloudy with cloud decreasing over the day. Light northeast winds. Alpine high temperatures around -8.Tuesday: A mix of sun and cloud. Light northwest winds. Alpine high temperatures around -9, rising in the evening as a temperature inversion establishes.

No new avalanches were reported in the last week. Two MIN reports from November 24th are worth your consideration though:This one describes a rider getting caught and carried in a small storm slab in the Ymir bowl area. This one details a group of riders triggering a large deep persistent slab avalanche in Meadow Creek which is in the neighboring South Columbia region. Multiple folks were involved, but thankfully everyone survived.Huge thanks to everyone posting to the MIN, please continue to do so here.

The storm last weekend delivered 20 to 40 cm of snow that has settled out to about 30 cm of soft snow on the surface. At treeline the total height of snow is now between 100 and 140 cm. At 40 to 80 cm below the surface there is a persistent weak layer that was buried on November 21st. This weak layer consists of surface hoar (feathery crystals) in most places, but may present as a sun crust on steep south facing slopes. This layer has been reactive in snowpack tests this week. A MIN report from the Kootenay Pass area (link here) and a social media post (link here) from the Whitewater area on Thursday show a concerning degree of reactivity at this layer. This surface hoar is thought to be widespread at treeline and it may be found in sheltered alpine features too. Another recent MIN report suggests that this layer was producing obvious signs of weakness at Kootenay Pass on Tuesday.At the base of the snowpack is a thick melt-freeze crust that formed near the end of October. This crust has shown limited reactivity thus far, but observations are very limited.