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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Apr 2nd, 2025–Apr 3rd, 2025

Alpine
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Alpine
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Alpine
Natural avalanches possible, human triggered probable.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.

Regions

North Columbia, South Columbia, Esplanade, Jordan, North Monashee, North Selkirk, Badshot-Battle, Central Selkirk, Goat, Gold, Retallack, Valhalla, Whatshan.

Very large skier triggered persistent slab avalanches continue to be reported in the alpine.

Avoid steep, rocky, and wind-affected areas where triggering slabs is more likely.

Confidence

Moderate

Avalanche Summary

On Tuesday, a skier remotely triggered a size 3 persistent slab from 40 m away. It was a steep, rocky, southeast aspect in the alpine.

A couple natural and cornice triggered size 2 storm slabs were also reported on northerly aspects in the alpine.

On Monday, a helicopter remotely triggered a size 2 deep persistent slab on a very steep and rocky northeast aspect in the alpine.

Snowpack Summary

Up to 30 cm of recent snow overlies a crust everywhere except northerly aspects in the alpine where a layer of small surface hoar may be present. Recent snowfall amounts taper with elevation.

Below this is a moist upper snowpack.

Recent avalanche activity has involved multiple persistent weak layers. The most common failure layer is the early March surface hoar, facet, and crust layer, buried 80 to 150 cm deep.

Avalanches have also stepped down to deeper weak layers from February and January, buried 150 to 200 cm deep.

These layers remain a concern for human-triggering and step-down avalanches.

Weather Summary

Wednesday Night

Partly cloudy. 10 to 20 km/h northwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -7 °C. Freezing level valley bottom.

Thursday

Mostly sunny. 5 to 10 km/h northwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -4 °C. Freezing level 1600 m.

Friday

Sunny. 5 to 10 km/h northwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature 0 °C. Freezing level 2000 m.

Saturday

Sunny. 5 to 10 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature 4 °C. Freezing level 2500 m.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • Cornice failures could trigger large and destructive avalanches.
  • Avoid steep, rocky, and wind-affected areas where triggering slabs is more likely.
  • Remote triggering is a concern; avoid terrain where triggering overhead slopes is possible.
  • Storm slabs in motion may step down to deeply buried weak layers and result in very large avalanches.

Problems

Persistent Slabs

Persistent Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer of snow (a slab) in the middle to upper snowpack, when the bond to an underlying persistent weak layer breaks. Persistent layers include: surface hoar, depth hoar, near-surface facets, or faceted snow. Persistent weak layers can continue to produce avalanches for days, weeks or even months, making them especially dangerous and tricky. As additional snow and wind events build a thicker slab on top of the persistent weak layer, this avalanche problem may develop into a Deep Persistent Slab.

Storm Slabs

Storm Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer (a slab) of new snow that breaks within new snow or on the old snow surface. Storm-slabs typically last between a few hours and few days (following snowfall). Storm-slabs that form over a persistent weak layer (surface hoar, depth hoar, or near-surface facets) may be termed Persistent Slabs or may develop into Persistent Slabs.

Cornices

Cornice Fall is the release of an overhanging mass of snow that forms as the wind moves snow over a sharp terrain feature, such as a ridge, and deposits snow on the downwind (leeward) side. Cornices range in size from small wind drifts of soft snow to large overhangs of hard snow that are 30 feet (10 meters) or taller. They can break off the terrain suddenly and pull back onto the ridge top and catch people by surprise even on the flat ground above the slope. Even small cornices can have enough mass to be destructive and deadly. Cornice Fall can entrain loose surface snow or trigger slab avalanches.