Avalanche Forecast
Regions: Birkenhead, Duffey, South Chilcotin, South Coast Inland, Stein, Taseko.
Reactive wind slabs may be found even below the treeline.Seek out the best riding in sheltered areas.
Confidence
Moderate
Avalanche Summary
On Friday, there some wind slab avalanches were reported. These ranged in size from 1 to 2, were found on east and west aspects, and occurred at alpine and below treeline elevation. Their triggers varied. One was caused by a skier remote, while another was caused by a natural cornice fall. These are both good reminders to keep an eye on the snow as you travel through the terrain but also be aware of the overhead hazard.
Please continue to share any observations or photos on the Mountain Information Network.
Snowpack Summary
In sheltered areas, the 25 to 35 cm of the snow pack will be of fresh snow that fell earlier this week. At higher elevation this new snow will be redistributed into wind slabs by southerly winds. Further down in elevation this snow was and still may be moist or wet, caused by warm temperatures and rain. Due to cooling temperatures a crust may have already formed. There may be a series of crust found 50 cm and again 80 cm deep. These layers have been somewhat reactive in snow pit tests.
The snowpack in this region is generally weak and shallow with sugary snow near the base. Snowpack depths around treeline range between 150 to 250 cm.
Weather Summary
Saturday Night
Clouds increasing into the evening, no accumulation, winds south southwest 10 to 20 km/h, treeline -5 °C.
Sunday
Mostly cloudy, up to 10 cm accumulation arriving early evening, winds southwest 20 to 30 km/h, treeline -2 °C.
Monday
Mostly cloudy, 5 cm accumulation, winds southwest 10 to 20 km/h, treeline -8 °C.
Tuesday
Sunny, no accumulation, winds north northwest 10 to 15 km/h, treeline -12 °C.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
Terrain and Travel Advice
- Watch for newly formed and reactive wind slabs as you transition into wind affected terrain.
- Avoid shallow, rocky areas where the snowpack transitions from thick to thin.
- Be carefull around freshly wind loaded features.
- Continue to make conservative terrain choices while the storm snow settles and stabilizes.
- Caution around slopes that are exposed to cornices overhead.
Avalanche Problems
Wind Slabs
Moderate south west winds will have developed fresh wind slabs at higher elevations. Expect to find wind slabs in exposed areas that are also below the treeline.
Wind slabs may be sitting on a crust making them especially reactive to ridder triggering.
Deeper weak layers have not produced avalanches for sometime, but may be possible to trigger with step down avalanches.
Aspects: North, North East, East, South East, West, North West.
Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.
Likelihood: Likely
Expected Size: 1 - 2