Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Dec 26th, 2024–Dec 27th, 2024

Alpine

Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.

Treeline

Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.

Below Treeline

Natural avalanches unlikely.

Alpine

Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.

Treeline

Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.

Below Treeline

Natural avalanches unlikely.

Alpine

Natural avalanches unlikely.

Treeline

Natural avalanches unlikely.

Below Treeline

Natural avalanches unlikely.

Regions

Northwest Inland, Kispiox, Ningunsaw, Ningunsaw, Ningunsaw, North Bulkley, South Bulkley, South Bulkley, South Bulkley, Telkwa.

Wind slabs that overlie faceted snow could remain surprisingly reactive to human triggers. Err on the side of caution when evaluating older slabs, especially near shallow, rocky areas.

Confidence

Moderate

Avalanche Summary

Skiers remote-triggered a large wind slab from 100 m away in the Little Simpson area on Hudson Bay Mountain on Monday. It failed on faceted snow, a reminder that persistent grains may extend the reactivity of wind slabs.

Up north, a 40 cm-deep layer of surface hoar on the early-December crust was recently reactive to skiers in the Ningunsaw area. The Ningunsaw slide path produced size 2.5 and size 3 avalanches on Monday and Tuesday night.

Share your observations on the MIN!

Snowpack Summary

Light new snow amounts have been combining with an aging wind slab problem and with otherwise heavily wind affected surfaces in the alpine and at treeline.

The crust from early December is now buried approximately 30 to 50 cm deep. In some areas, large surface hoar crystals are found at this interface. We are trying to track the distribution of this surface hoar across the region. Faceted snow is perhaps more likely to find at this interface and poses a similar problem.

The are no layers of concerns below the early December crust.

Weather Summary

Thursday night

Cloudy with scattered flurries and less than 5 cm of new snow. 15 to 30 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -4 °C.

Friday

Partly cloudy. 15 to 30 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -5 °C.

Saturday

Mainly cloudy with isolated flurries. 10 to 20 km/h southeast ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -7 °C.

Sunday

Mainly cloudy with isolated flurries. 5 to 10 km/h southeast ridgetop wind shifting southwest. Treeline temperature -6 °C.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

Avoid freshly wind-loaded features, especially near ridge crests, rollovers, and in steep terrain.
Seek out wind sheltered terrain below treeline where you can avoid wind slabs and find great riding.
Remote triggering is a concern; avoid terrain where triggering overhead slopes is possible.

Problems

Wind Slabs

Wind Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer of snow (a slab) formed by the wind. Wind typically transports snow from the upwind sides of terrain features and deposits snow on the downwind side. Wind slabs are often smooth and rounded and sometimes sound hollow, and can range from soft to hard. Wind slabs that form over a persistent weak layer (surface hoar, depth hoar, or near-surface facets) may be termed Persistent Slabs or may develop into Persistent Slabs.

Loose Wet

Loose Wet avalanches are the release of wet unconsolidated snow or slush. These avalanches typically occur within layers of wet snow near the surface of the snowpack, but they may quickly gouge into lower snowpack layers. Like Loose Dry Avalanches, they start at a point and entrain snow as they move downhill, forming a fan-shaped avalanche. Other names for loose-wet avalanches include point-release avalanches or sluffs. Loose Wet avalanches can trigger slab avalanches that break into deeper snow layers.