Avalanche Forecast

Fair - Due to variable snowpack conditions

A continued unsettled weather pattern exists. Wednesday: Light snow amounts 5-10 cm. Ridgetop winds 25km/hr from the East. Treeline temperatures near -10. Thursday: A Pacific frontal system will start to affect the region bringing light snow amounts during the day, and light-moderate amounts later that night. Ridgetop winds will be strong from the West. Treeline temperatures near -8. Friday: Moderate snow amounts. Ridgetop winds moderate from the West. Treeline temperatures near -5. Freezing levels may rise to 600 m, and then drop to valley bottom at night.

A skier triggered size 2 avalanche occurred on Monday in the Smithers/Hankin area. The report indicates the slope was triggered while skiing over a convex feature in an open area within the trees. The skier went for a 20 m ride, and was buried chest deep. No injuries reported. The snowpack is very tricky at the moment. Backcountry travel requires local knowledge, extensive experience and training. The obvious clues that show snowpack instability may not be there. You need to dig deep, do your detective work and make good decisions. Don't let the sunny skies, and other tracks fool you, and/ or lead you into a situation you won't be able to deal with. Rider triggered avalanches are likely. Check out this link to view the incident report database: http://www.avalanche.ca/cac/library/incident-report-database/view

Steady winds are transporting new snow, forming pockets of wind slab up to 70 cm deep on lee features. To compound the wind slab issue, recent winds have been northerly, building reactive slabs on south facing terrain features. Over the past weekend 30 cm of snow fell. This brings a total of 45-60 cm of snow over the mid February interface. This interface is variable and consists of a strong melt freeze crust below 1000m, above 100 m exists facets, surface hoar (in more sheltered areas), sun crust or wind press. The surface hoar is not widespread but is responsible for much of the recent avalanche activity. The mid and lower snowpack is generally well settled and strong.