Avalanche Forecast

A few natural wind slab avalanches have been reported on north and east aspects since the weekend. Most of them have been small (size 1), although the AvCan field team did see one larger (size 2) wind slab that likely occurred on Monday (photos here).

30 to 40 cm of low density snow can still be found in wind sheltered terrain, while exposed alpine terrain has likely been impacted by strong southerly winds. Recent snow is well bonded to underlying layers, with the possible exception of steep wind-loaded slopes. Snow depths at White Pass are around 100 cm in sheltered areas and closer to 200 cm on wind-loaded slopes.

Thursday night

Partly cloudy, no precipitation, 20 to 30 km/h wind from the southeast, treeline temperatures drop to -15 °C.

Friday

Cloudy with light flurries bringing trace amounts of snow in the afternoon, 30 to 40 km/h wind from the south, treeline temperatures around -8 °C.

Cloudy, scattered flurries with up to 5 cm of new snow, 20 to 40 km/h wind from the southeast, treeline temperatures around -6 °C.

Morning flurries with 5 to 10 cm of snow, clearing in the afternoon, 30 to 50 km/h wind from the south, treeline temperatures around -8 °C.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

• Watch for wind-loaded pockets especially around ridgecrest and in extreme terrain.
• The best and safest riding will be on slopes that have soft snow without any slab properties.
• Use ridges or ribs to avoid areas of wind loaded snow.