Avalanche Forecast
Issued: Dec 17th, 2022 4:00PM
The alpine rating is , the treeline rating is , and the below treeline rating is Known problems include Wind Slabs.
lbaker,
Avalanche Canada
Keep backcountry travel low-risk and close to the car. Temperatures are forecasted to really start dropping and along with some of the shortest daylight hours of the year, any sort of incident (even broken equipment) could quickly become an epic.
Summary
Confidence
Moderate
Avalanche Summary
A handful of size 1 avalanches were reported in the Sun Peaks area Monday-Wednesday this week, these storm and wind slab avalanches were about 30 cm deep, one is covered in this MIN report from Monday.
Please submit a Mountain Information Network report if you are heading to the backcountry!
Snowpack Summary
20-30 cm of available snow has been redistributed by variable winds into fresh wind slabs on all aspects. This snow covers a crust on solar slopes and a layer of weak surface hoar in shaded terrain.
Buried 50-70 cm deep, a layer of surface hoar, crust, and faceted crystals. Observations are limited in this region but this layer has produced numerous large avalanches in the neighboring regions.
Snowpack depths at upper elevations are around 80-100 cm.
Weather Summary
Saturday night
Broken skies with isolated flurries, trace accumulation. Light southwesterly ridgetop winds gusting 35 km/hr. Overnight temperatures drop to -16 C.
Sunday
Mix of sun and cloud. Variable light ridgetop winds. Daytime high temperature -18 C.
Monday
Sunny skies. Light ridgetop winds gusting 35 km/hr. Daytime high temperature -21 C.
Tuesday
Sunny with cloudy periods. Southwesterly ridgetop wind 20 km/hr. daytime high temperatures -19 C.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
Terrain and Travel Advice
- Avoid steep, rocky, and wind effected areas where triggering slabs is more likely.
- Approach lee and cross-loaded slopes with caution.
- Wind slabs may be poorly bonded to the underlying crust.
Problems
Wind Slabs
Recent winds have redistributed snow to a variety of aspects. Use caution as you transition into wind-affected terrain. Seek out wind-sheltered terrain where you can avoid wind slabs and find great riding.
Aspects: All aspects.
Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.
Likelihood
Expected Size
Valid until: Dec 18th, 2022 4:00PM
