Avalanche Forecast

Tuesday night: Clear periods. Moderate northwest winds.

Wednesday: A mix of sun and cloud. Light northwest wind. Alpine temperatures around -10 C.

Thursday: Cloudy with scattered flurries bringing 5-10 cm of new snow, continuing overnight. Light to moderate southwest wind. Alpine temperatures around -8 C.

Friday: Cloudy with continuing flurries bringing 5-10 cm of new snow and new snow totals of 15-25cm. Light to moderate southeast winds. Alpine high temperatures around -7.

On Saturday, storm slabs up to size 2.5 and loose dry up to size 2 were observed in the Shames area and the Skeena corridor. Additionally wind slab avalanches up to size 2.5 were reported in Bear Pass area.

Looking forward, our storm snow is expected to form an improving bond with the old surface while our slab problems become increasingly limited to wind-loaded areas.

80-100 cm of recent storm snow has been highly wind affected in the alpine. Expect to find deep wind loaded pockets below ridgetops and in the lee of exposed features.

This storm snow sits on a crust up to treeline and on extensively wind affected surfaces at treeline and above. 

The underlying snowpack is well consolidated, with an average depth of around 2 m. Two older layers of surface hoar are now buried 130-180 cm deep. The recent widespread natural storm slab avalanche cycle was a good test of these layers, and there have been no reports of avalanches stepping down to them.

Signs of instability that may be associated with these layers have been observed in isolated areas on low angle terrain below treeline, as detailed in this MIN report.

• Give the new snow time to settle and stabilize before pushing into bigger terrain.
• Watch for newly formed and reactive wind slabs as you transition into wind affected terrain.
• Watch for signs of instability like whumpfing, hollow sounds, shooting cracks or recent avalanches.