Northwest Inland

Start on smaller features and gather information before jumping into a big, committing line. 

Large avalanches are possible on isolated features in the alpine, and even small avalanches can be dangerous in steep terrain or around terrain traps.

Thursday Night: Clear. No new snow expected. Moderate west ridgetop wind. Possible temperature inversion could make for temperatures warmer than -5 °C above 1700 m.

Friday: Sunny with scattered clouds. No new snow expected. Moderate southwest ridgetop wind. Possible temperature inversion could make for temperatures warmer than -5 °C above 1700 m.

Saturday: Cloudy. 2 cm of snow expected overnight, and another 2-5 through the day. Strong south ridgetop wind, trending to extreme at higher elevations. Temperature inversion breaking down. Alpine high around -7 °C.

Sunday: Cloudy. 2-5 cm of snow expected overnight, and another 0-5 through the day. Strong to extreme south ridgetop winds. Freezing levels rising to 1000 m in some parts of the region. Alpine high around -5 °C.

No new avalanches were reported on Thursday before 4 pm. 

On Wednesday, an AST course reported some natural windslab avalanches up to size 1.5 in steep alpine features, as well as several, size 1 natural loose dry avalanches, and rider triggered slab avalanches. For more info, see their Mountain Information Network post here. Also, a professional operation northeast of Hazelton reported a few small, natural and rider triggered avalanches in wind effected storm snow at ridge crests, and in steep features.

On Tuesday, a professional operation northeast of Hazelton reported a couple of natural avalanches up to size 2.5 that may have occurred on Monday. They were on north or northeast aspects around treeline, and one was a windslab, while the other was a cornice failure that likely triggered a windslab avalanche on the slope below. 

On Monday, avalanche activity was limited to thin, size 1 wind slabs and loose dry sluffing.

10-20 cm of low density snow overlies a variety of old, generally wind-affected surfaces: Wind pressed snow, sastrugi, windslabs that are slowly bonding to the mid February rain crust, and very wind exposed areas that were stripped back to this crust. See here for a report on alpine conditions in the Hudson Bay backcountry from our Northwest field team.

20-50 cm from the snow surface is a 10-20 cm thick rain crust which effectively caps the underlying snowpack, making human triggering of avalanches on weak layers deeper in the snowpack unlikely, but this crust has been breaking down in some locations, with faceting observed above and below it. Large loads like big chunks of falling cornice may now be able to trigger weak layers below the crust.

• Use caution above cliffs and terrain traps where even small avalanches may have severe consequences.
• Watch for wind-loaded pockets especially around ridgecrest and in extreme terrain.
• Back off if you encounter whumpfing, hollow sounds, or shooting cracks.
• Recent wind has varied in direction so watch for wind slabs on all aspects.
• Wind slabs may be poorly bonded to the underlying crust.