North Columbia

Wind effect is still driving the avalanche danger in many areas. The safest, and best, riding may be in lower elevation terrain sheltered from the wind.

High - Due to the number and quality of field observations

SATURDAY: Mix of sun and cloud, light southwest winds, alpine temperatures around -15 C.SUNDAY: Cloudy with isolated flurries, 20-40 km/h west winds, alpine temperatures around -10 C. MONDAY: Flurries with 5-10 cm of new snow, 40-50 km southwest winds, alpine temperatures warming to -3 C.

Wind slabs have been reactive to human and natural triggers over the past week. On Thursday, numerous skier-triggered wind slabs in the size 1-2 range were triggered on a wide range of aspects at treeline. Natural size 1.5-2 wind slabs were also observed in alpine terrain.Wind slabs will likely remain reactive over the weekend. In shallow areas like Clemina Creek, it could be possible to trigger a layer of facets buried around 60 cm below the surface.

Recent new snow has been shifted first by southwesterly winds and then by northerly winds. As a result, wind slabs exist on a variety of aspects at upper elevations. These accumulations have covered old, thicker wind slabs from previous wind events. A layer of faceted "sugar snow" and spotty surface hoar which formed during December's cold snap now lies roughly 1 metre below the surface. This layer is now dormant in many areas, but may still be a concern in shallow snowpack parts of the region, particularly around Clemina Creek. I'd continue to investigate this layer before committing to any large, unsupported features. The lower snowpack seems to be generally strong and well settled.