Avalanche Forecast

Thursday night: Cloudy with continuing scattered flurries bringing less than 5 cm of new snow. Moderate southwest winds.

Friday: Mainly cloudy with continuing isolated flurries, continuing overnight. Light to moderate southwest winds. Alpine high temperatures around -5 with freezing levels to 1600 metres.

Saturday: Cloudy with continuing isolated flurries, increasing overnight. Light to moderate south winds. Alpine high temperatures around -3 with freezing levels to 1700 metres.

Sunday: Clearing over the day with 10-15 cm of new snow from the overnight period. Light west winds. Alpine high temperatures around -5

Reports from Wednesday included several size 1 (small) skier triggered slabs on south aspects observed running stubbornly on a recent crust layer. One recent natural size 2 cornice failure was also noted, as well as fairly widespread natural wet loose activity (to size 1) on steep solar aspects.

A natural avalanche cycle was occurred during the weekend storm, with widespread size 3-3.5 avalanches in the Selkirks and more limited activity in the Monashees to size 2, a few of them cornice-triggered. Storm slabs remained reactive to ski cuts on Monday, mostly around size 1 with a couple of skier remotes size 1-2 in the east of the region.

By Tuesday, storm slabs were showing signs of becoming more stubborn, showing limited propagation with a few explosive control results around size 2. A skier triggered size 2.5 involvement in neighboring Glacier National Park resulted in lost gear and minor injuries.

Light accumulations of new snow have added to wind affected surfaces in alpine areas and to settled dry snow on more sheltered, shaded aspects above about 2000 metres. Below this elevation and on solar aspects it buries crusty surfaces. Below about 1500 metres, surface conditions of the diminishing snowpack will vary according to alternating light rain, wet flurries, and overnight refreezes.

At alpine and treeline elevations, a widespread crust exists (except on north-facing slopes above 1800 m) buried 50-100 cm deep. Overall the snow seems to be bonding well at this interface, although there have been a few isolated avalanches running on deeper crust layers over the past few weeks.

• Watch for newly formed and reactive wind slabs as you transition into wind affected terrain.
• Extra caution is needed around cornices under the current conditions.
• Be alert to conditions that change with elevation.