Northwest Coastal

Sheltered terrain not only offers the best riding right now, but also keeps you away from the lingering wind slabs.

Moderate - The weather pattern is stable

SUNDAY: Sunny with increasing cloud, strong outflow winds, treeline temperatures around -10 C.MONDAY: Clouds clearing throughout the day, moderate northwest winds, treeline temperatures around -12 C.TUESDAY: Sunny, moderate northwest winds, treeline temperatures around -12 C.

No new avalanches have been reported. On Thursday, skiers triggered a few small slabs (size 1) on steep wind-loaded features.

Strong outflow winds have dramatically affected the surface snow, scouring some slopes down to an old crust and forming hard deposits in many other areas. Sheltered areas may still have 20 to 50 cm of powder from previous storms, but winds have come from a variety of directions and affected much of the terrain. Wind slabs may rest on a variety of old surfaces including a thick melt-freeze crust (reported to be 3 to 15 cm thick) and in some sheltered locations soft feathery surface hoar crystals above the crust. The mid-pack is reported to be generally strong below this crust, with the possible exception of areas around Stewart and northern parts of the region where the late October crust can be found deep in the snowpack. This deep crust has been been associated with weak sugary snow and may still be a concern in shallow snowpack areas.