Avalanche Forecast

Moderate

No new avalanche activity has been reported in the past few days.

Whumpfing has been experienced by backcountry users in the Babines, Grizzly Plateau, and Hudson Bay Mountain recently. The whumpfing is likely due to the surface hoar layers described in the snowpack summary.

Check out this great MIN from the north of the region.

As southerly winds increase new wind slabs will likely form on north aspects. Southerly faces in the alpine are scoured down to the ground or an early-season crust. A crust exists at or near the surface below treeline.

In most areas, two or more preserved surface hoar layers can be found buried between 35 cm and 80 cm deep. They appear to be most prominent at treeline and below but have been observed in some alpine locations as well.

Snowpack depths at treeline are variable across the region with generally deeper amounts (~150cm) in the western part and shallower (~80cm) in the eastern part.

Tuesday Night

Mostly cloudy with trace amounts of new snow expected, east alpine wind 15 to 30 km/h, treeline temperature -5°C.

Wednesday

Mostly cloudy with a couple centimeters of new snow expected, southeast alpine wind 20 to 50 km/h, treeline temperature -4°C.

Thursday

Mostly cloudy with trace amounts of new snow expected, southwest alpine wind 20 to 60 km/h, treeline temperature -3°C.

Friday

Cloudy with up to 5 cm of new snow expected, southwest alpine wind 20 to 60 km/h, treeline temperature -4°C.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

• Carefully assess open slopes and convex rolls where buried surface hoar may be preserved.
• Pay attention to the wind, once it starts to blow fresh sensitive wind slabs are likely to form.
• Watch for wind-loaded pockets especially around ridgecrest and in extreme terrain.