Avalanche Forecast

High -

Tuesday night: Dry. Winds light northwesterly.

Wednesday: Dry with increasing cloud cover. Winds light southwesterly. Freezing level around 1000 m.

Thursday: Around 10 cm new snow. Winds moderate southwesterly. Freezing level around 900 m.

Friday: Around 5 cm new snow. Winds moderate southwesterly. Freezing level around 800 m.

A skier triggered a small wind slab avalanche on a northeast aspect at around 2250 m on Monday. In addition, a skier triggered a size 2 cornice from a ridgetop.

A very large (size 3.5) avalanche was observed on Sunday (although is most likely to have occurred on Saturday) near Whistler on a steep north face at 2400 m. It is suspected to have failed on a layer of facets on a crust from late November. This very large event demonstrates the ongoing need for caution in aggressive alpine terrain.

Extreme southerly winds during the last storm shifted to northwesterly and created wind slabs on northerly, easterly and southerly aspects. The snow surface is heavily wind-affected at treeline and in the alpine. The recent storm snow sits on a rain crust below 2000 m. The bond at this interface appears to be reasonably strong.

While weak faceted grains and crusts near the base of the snowpack have mostly not been a problem recently, one large avalanche was observed on this layer on Saturday Feb 8. The problem appears isolated to very aggressive alpine terrain and is likely more prevalent in inland parts of the region.

• Recent wind has varied in direction so watch for wind slabs on all aspects.
• Be especially cautious as you transition into wind affected terrain.
• Pay attention to cornices and give them a wide berth when traveling on or below ridges.