Choose terrain sheltered from the wind. Fresh wind slabs are forming over crusts and old wind slab.
Avoid thin, rocky start zones. Deep weak layers are hard to trigger right now, but the resulting avalanche could be very large.
New snow and wind could be forming fresh, reactive wind slabs.
The recent forecaster blog does a great job of capturing the challenging travel and decision-making we'll likely encounter in the backcountry right now.
Avoid large features, and thin, rocky start zones. Information is still being gathered about this potential weak layer near the bottom of the snowpack.
Monday Night: Scattered clouds. No new snow expected. Variable light winds. Alpine low around -8, a temperature inversion may mean colder temperatures in the valleys.
Tuesday: Overcast. 5-10 cm of snow expected. Moderate to strong southwest winds. Alpine temperatures above -10 C with possible temperature inversion.
Wednesday: Mostly cloudy. 0-5 cm of snow expected. Strong southwest winds. Inversion breaking down. Alpine temperatures around -13.
Thursday: Partly Cloudy. Possible trace of snow. Moderate to strong west winds. Alpine temperatures around -13.
On saturday, a size 3 avalanche was reported in the Hankin-Evelyn area, failing near the ground. This has us thinking about the potential for a deep persistent weak layer.
This Mountain Information Network (MIN), post (and the two others pinned near it), paint a great picture of the recent conditions at Hankin-Evelyn.
Reports in the region remain limited. A lack of information may not actually mean there is a lack of avalanche activity.
There are recent reports of large to very large avalanches running on or near the ground in Bear Pass, Ningunsaw, in the Nass River Valley (northwest of Terrace), and around Smithers. We don't know how widespread this problem may be, or if all events reflect the same avalanche problem, but we are definitely keeping an eye on it, and would be avoiding large features and areas with thin to thick snowpack transitions for now.
This snowpack summary is mostly speculative, as there is very little information in this region at the moment:) If you have been getting out in the backcountry, we'd love to see a photo or a quick story of your day posted to the Mountain Information Network.
Due to recent, variable winds, you may find wind slabs on many aspects, and on both sides of ridges. Some exposed areas may be stripped back to the Nov 30/Dec 1 Crust. This crust has been reported up to 1600 m in the south end of the region.
There have been widespread reports of surface hoar forming in the Northwest Coast region. The weather inland has also been ideal for surface hoar growth, so watch for where it's on the surface, or think about where it might be lurking once it's buried. This could be a touchy new sliding layer when it gets buried on Tuesday, especially where it will be sitting on a crust.
Treeline snow depths are estimated to be 100-150 cm.
