Avalanche Forecast

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Thursday: Cloudy with snow starting in the afternoon, freezing levels shouldn't get any higher than about 1000m and light winds. Friday: Snow tapering off in the evening with 15-20cm of accumulation. Strong, gusting extreme southeasterly winds. Saturday: Cloudy with sunny periods.

Recent reports from the Whistler area include several natural avalanches up to size 2.0 primarily on north through east aspects, as well as widespread whumpfing associated with facets sitting on top of the rain crust from early November. Similar natural activity likely occurred overnight Tuesday and Wednesday morning due to heavy loading from new snow and especially wind.

Another 20-30cm overnight Tuesday brings total snowpack depths at treeline to a metre or more. Alpine depths are likely variable with fat drifts and boney rocks, while most slopes below treeline are likely still below threshold depths for avalanches. The main snowpack feature is a rain crust buried early November and now down around 60cm at treeline. A weak layer of facets sitting on top of this curst recently gave very easy sudden collapse compression test results as well as moderate extended column test results that propagated across the entire column. Widespread whumpfing and cracking on this layer has also been reported from the Whistler area. Because this weakness is so close to the ground in most areas, associated avalanche activity will likely be limited to slopes with smooth ground cover (e.g. scree slopes, rock slabs, summer firn, glaciers, etc.). For more information check out the telemarktips.com forum and the Mountain Conditions Report.