Avalanche Forecast

Good

The region will be dominated by a ridge of high pressure that is positioning itself over the BC coast before making its way into the Interior regions. Light north/northwesterly winds, cooler temperatures, dry and fairly clear conditions will prevail. Sunday/Monday: Alpine temperatures near -4 with ridgetop winds light from the Northwest. Freezing levels near 800 m.Tuesday: Forecast shows the possibility of thick valley clouds forming over the Kootenays, ridgetop winds light from the Northwest and sunny alpine skies. Alpine temperatures near -9, and freezing levels at valley bottom.

An avalanche control mission done using explosives on steep 50 degree NE aspects showed minor sluffing.On December 24th Record Mt. had a natural size 2 slab avalanche that failed on the late November surface hoar layer buried down 115 cm. The avalanche occurred on a East aspect around 1900 m. Reports from the Rossland area suggest that the buried surface hoar is well preserved and the crystals are 10 mm in size. I suggest keeping this on your radar, it may be more suspectable to rider triggers in the Rossland Range.

Last week's storm snow is settling and showing no significant shears in the top meter of the snowpack. Wind slabs have formed and may easy to trigger in specific locations, like leeward slopes, and behind terrain features (spines, gullies).Through the region, people continue to monitor the late November buried surface hoar found down 115-130 cm. Snowpack testing has shown Compression and Deep Tap test results in the hard to very hard range with a variety of fracture characteristics, including no results, breaks and some with sudden results. This layer may be difficult to trigger, but if triggered you can expect a consequential avalanche to occur. Dig down, find and test weak layers that may exist in your neck of the woods. The mid-pack is generally well settled.