Avalanche Forecast

Fair - Timing, track, or intensity of incoming weather is uncertain

Wednesday: Convective snow showers. Moderate south-westerly winds, decreasing through the day. Freezing level around 700m.Thursday: Light snow. Light, south-easterly winds. Freezing level around 500m. Friday: Cloudy with flurries. Freezing level remaining near 500m.

Last week was very active with natural avalanche activity up to size 3.5 and several rider involvements and close calls. Some avalanches failed on the mid-February persistent weakness. On Monday, a skier triggered a buried wind slab on a convex roll 30-40cm deep on a north-east aspect. Some natural activity was also observed on steep solar aspects. On Sunday, a skier triggered a size 1.5 from a north-east aspect, in steep rocky terrain. Avalanches were also triggered naturally and by explosives in steep, rocky terrain to size 2. A size 3 slab was observed on a north-west aspect in the Musical Bumps area, near Whistler, suspected to have failed on Sunday. The trigger is unknown.

Snow and wind created fresh wind slabs and storm slabs on Tuesday. Heavy snow which fell last week is slowly settling, but variable storm snow weaknesses and buried crusts mean a deep storm slab release is still possible. Cornices are large and threaten slopes below. A persistent weakness, formed in mid-February, continues to produce hard, sudden planar results in snowpack tests. The likelihood of triggering this layer has gone down, but very large avalanches remain possible, which could be triggered by a shallower avalanche or cornice fall. The average snowpack depth at treeline is 350cm.