Avalanche Forecast

There was a report of small (size 1) reactive storm slab avalanches around Wells on Saturday.

A few small (size 1 to 1.5), isolated wind slab avalanches were observed in alpine terrain across the region on Wednesday and Thursday.

10 cm of new snow is now resting on a previous 20 cm that was redistributed by strong northeast wind. This upper 30 cm of recent snow may bond poorly to underlying layers of surface hoar, faceted snow, and wind-pressed snow.

A prominent crust is found 30 to 50 cm deep. It extends up to 1900 m in the Cariboos and up to 1400 m around Pine Pass. At this point, the only potential concern with this layer is for areas east of Quesnel and Williams Lake, where a layer of small surface hoar has been observed near the crust.

The midpack is reportedly strong and bonded.

Sunday Night

Cloudy with up to 3 cm snow, southwest alpine wind 20-40 km/h, treeline temperature -5 °C.

Monday

Mostly cloudy with up to 3 cm of snow, southwest alpine wind 10-30 km/h, treeline temperature -5 °C, except 0 °C around Wells/ Barkerville with an above freezing layer between 1300-1500 m.

Tuesday

Cloudy with up to 5 cm of snow, west alpine wind 20-40 km/h, treeline temperature -2 °C, except around Wells/ Barkerville with an above freezing layer between 900-1500 m.

Wednesday

Cloudy with flurries, southwest alpine wind 30-50 km/h, treeline temperature -1 °C, except around Wells/ Barkerville with freezing levels rising to 1400 m.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

• Use ridges or ribs to avoid areas of wind loaded snow.
• Investigate the bond of the recent snow before committing to your line.
• Be careful with wind slabs, especially in steep, unsupported and/or convex terrain features.