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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Mar 29th, 2024–Mar 30th, 2024

Alpine
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Alpine
Natural avalanches possible, human triggered probable.
Treeline
Natural avalanches possible, human triggered probable.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Alpine
Natural avalanches possible, human triggered probable.
Treeline
Natural avalanches possible, human triggered probable.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.

Regions

South Coast Inland, Birkenhead, Duffey, South Chilcotin, Stein, Taseko.

While the best riding conditions may be found on north facing, alpine slopes - persistent weak layers may still be reactive here.

Watch for changing surface conditions on sunny slopes.

Confidence

Moderate

Avalanche Summary

A close call size 1 rider triggered slab was reported on Thursday (photo below). While the slab was only 10 cm deep, this shows the potential of small avalanches in steep or unsupported terrain features.

While there has been minimal avalanche activity over the past week, professionals in the region are still weary of the persistent slab problem.

Snowpack Summary

Up to 10 cm of recent snow can be found over a widespread crust, south/southwest winds have redistributed this snow into wind slabs around ridgelines on north facing slopes at treeline and above. Surface snow may become moist on steep sun affected slopes.

The facet/crust layer that produced large avalanches during early March is buried 80-150 cm deep. While no recent avalanche activity has been observed on this layer, it continues to produce concerning snowpack test results. It has become a low-probability, high-consequence problem on north-facing slopes above 2000 m.

Weather Summary

Friday Night

Clear skies. 10-20 km/h north ridgetop wind. Freezing levels drop to 500 m.

Saturday

Mostly sunny. 10-20 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -1 °C. Freezing level 1800 m.

Sunday

Sunny. 40-50 km/h northwest ridgetop wind. Freezing level rises to 2500 m in the afternoon, bringing treeline temperatures to +8 °C.

Monday

Freezing levels remain around 2500 m overnight and throughout Monday. Sunny. 20-30 km/h northwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperatures near +8 °C.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • Use caution on large alpine slopes, especially around thin areas that may propagate to deeper instabilities.
  • Conditions may have improved, but be mindful that deep instabilities are still present.
  • Minimize exposure to sun-exposed slopes when the solar radiation is strong.

Problems

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.

Persistent Slabs

Persistent Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer of snow (a slab) in the middle to upper snowpack, when the bond to an underlying persistent weak layer breaks. Persistent layers include: surface hoar, depth hoar, near-surface facets, or faceted snow. Persistent weak layers can continue to produce avalanches for days, weeks or even months, making them especially dangerous and tricky. As additional snow and wind events build a thicker slab on top of the persistent weak layer, this avalanche problem may develop into a Deep Persistent Slab.