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.
Recent winds have redistributed snow to a variety of aspects. Seek out wind-sheltered terrain where you can avoid wind slabs and find great riding.
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!
20-30 cm of recent snow has been redistributed by southwest winds at higher elevations. Forecasted northerly winds may reverse-load features and build fresh slabs. Now down 20-30 cm, this recent snow covers a crust on solar slopes and a layer of weak surface hoar in more shaded terrain.
Buried 40-60 cm deep, a layer of surface hoar, crust, and faceted crystals is a layer of concern. Observations are limited in this region but this layer has already produced avalanches in the neighbouring regions.
Snowpack depths at upper elevations are around 80-100 cm.
Friday night
Cloudy with isolated flurries, trace to 5 cm by morning. Light westerly ridge winds up to 20 km/h. Overnight alpine low temperature -14 C.
Saturday
Cloudy skies and isolated flurries, another trace to 5 cm. Light west ridge winds up to 20 km/h. Alpine high temperature -9 C and dropping quickly.
Sunday
Cold and grey, possible isolated flurries. Light northeast ridge winds up to 20 km/h. Alpine high temperature -20 C.
Monday
Very cold, but less windy. Calm to light winds, daytime high temperatures -22 C.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
