Avalanche Observations

Skied Big Tree Peak. Mix of sun and cloud throughout the day. Strong ridge top winds from the west. Temps ~+5 in the alpine. Overnight melt freeze crust broke down by 11am on south aspects and 1pm on most aspects making for fun skiing. Lower elevation creek crossings are hazardous! Drove to 720m elevation. This was plan B after encountering a washed out road on Ashwood at 50.27800, -126.58006

It’s the best of both worlds up there with ≈15cm of dry powder on polar aspects and a proper melt-freeze cycle that produces great dust on crust and corn snow on any other aspects. Snow was excellent to valley bottom today. I skied S/SE yesterday (up to 2000m+ elev.) and N as well as E/SE today (up to 1520m). Wx was in and out, but clearings were big enough to wait out a couple minutes and ski in beautiful light. Cloud cover was enough to keep the snow in great condition from top to bottom. There are lots of glide cracks appearing where slabs exists, some of them are very large. We managed to cut big chunks of cornices at 2000m into a couloir filled with lots of snow, the weight didn’t trigger anything other than sluff in the feature we skied.

Skied the Granddaddy this morning. Ski conditions were not great, but expected for the spring we are having. In the couloir itself it was dust on crust and bumpy, the fan skied a bit better. Below TL it was a breakable crust that was supportive if you skied slowly, a real turn often broke through. At approximately 1100 on the way out the storm came a few hours early and the walls started to stuff. There is still a couple of snow bridges across the river (pictured). Ski crampons were helpful but not necessary on steeper sections to the gendarmerie, a light axe added security for the last part of the boot packing.

Good freeze overnight. -5 at the top around mid day. Excellent stability but snow was bullet proof for most of the way up. Some good turns on the way down mixed in with survival skiing for the lower quarter.

Spent 2 nights up on the Columbia just below Snowdome Friday - Sunday. Ascended Friday through icefall 1 hard climbers left with a short boot pack following an existing skin/bootpack track then continued hard climbers left on the edge of the moraine to icefall 2. Crossed back onto icefall 2 then up the climbers left ramp to make it to the ramp between 2 & 3. A lot of serac fall across the ramp between 2 & 3 then ascended ramp 3. As we reached the top of the ramp through icefall 3 we came across the crevasse fall incident and supported. A good reminder how long it can take to get an unroped, injured skier out of a crevasse (3+ hrs with Parks Rescue support) and how critical being able to keep both the person who has fallen & those helping warm (eg. put on all jackets & gloves as soon as you start the rescue and if you are camping having a stove and being able to boil hot water for a Nalgene hot water bottle. Also hand heat packs under armpits / groin). Friday was cold & windy to start then warmed up quick, freezing level rose to at least 2900m with evidence of a melt/refreeze of surface snow up to where we camped. Wind picked up again around 3pm and stayed strong until early Sunday morning. Poor visibility and strong winds all day Saturday. Managed to summit Snowdome in the afternoon, good coverage and travel conditions but again skied fully roped up based on vis and Friday's incident. Saturday overnight winds calmed and ~15cm+ of new snow fell up on the icefield. Significantly less snow on the icefall the lower you got and none evident on the Athabasca toe. Descended the upper ramp then second ramp to skiers left off the glacier to avoid the first icefall. Evidence of sun warming upper slopes on both sides (Fri & Sun) of the valley with some wet loose on the climbers right on Friday and fresh snow loose slides coming down climbers left Sunday. One bigger powder cloud hit the Athabasca toe from climbers left side (unsure where it came off) around 11am and made it half way across the glacier. Sunday was intermittent visibility in the morning as we descended. Descended roped up after the crevasse incident Friday and all tracks filled in with the fresh snow and wind. The open crevasse is now pretty well hidden with the fresh snow & wind but is located to the skiers left of a small bump at the top of the skiers left side of the ramp. Descended the ramp on icefall 3 cautiously roped up side slipping in low vis, crossed the bench between 2&3 under the serac debris then took the skiers right ramp down icefall 2 to the bench between 1&2, skinned across to the edge of the glacier on skiers left then skied down bypassing icefall 1 to the moraines & toe. Travel down the toe was fast and seamless unroped. During the incident we probed heavily around the area above the crevasse and found it to be very holey. It was very challenging to find a 10x10 section of ice for the heli to land. Snow bridges varied between ~150-250cm in this zone and held out for the rescue and our decent but would be very cautious around this convexity at the top of the last ramp onto the icefield. One highlight on Sunday was seeing a Wolverine come frolicking down from Snowdome in the fresh snow!

Large natural persistent slab avalanches in the Rainy hollow area on NW-aspects at 1500m with spectacular propagation ~750m. And a deep slab lower on a moraine feature at 1100m. Observed cornice fall and other slab avalanches on Northerly aspects. Dug a pit at 1600m on a NW-aspect and found a reactive slab down 45cm that propagated on extended column test ECTP21. It failed on faceted snow below a crust layer. Overall poor structure below this interface with punchy layers and strong over weak layering. At the surface on the northerly was a layer of surface hoar over a firm supportable surface. Big cornices and evidence of recent cornice failure.

Submitted Hector today. Good freeze overnight, light winds, mix of sun and clouds. We probed 220-300 on the glacier. Summit block was fairly involved but with crampons and a single ice axe it was doable. We ended up taking the right line (see picture) unroped as there wasn’t too many places for pro. 2 rappels down to the col. Skiing was variable but we managed to keep the skis on through the waterfall and all the way back to the car.

Skied Bell couloir today. Snow conditions were variable, above the roll was stiff and chalky, below the roll and through the choke held 10-20cm of light, non cohesive dry pow over stiffer old surfaces, below the choke held a bit less pow over the same old surfaces. The moraine and below were dust on a supportive crust. We found a very weak, thin melt freeze crust (1cm down) extending part way up the fan on the climb, but it wasn't really stiff enough to notice on the ski down. Boot penetration was 20-30cm most of the way up. Ski quality was pretty good below the roll. Sluff was running most of the way to the fan from below the roll, but didn't entrain too much. The crust from the moraine down to and across the lake was supportive, and the trail down was quite firm and icy when we skied out. Other than moist snow on top of the crust on the lake around 1200, we did not observe much evidence of warming having an effect on the snowpack while we were out.

A decent overnight freeze made for quick travel up Chickadee valley. The lower slopes of Whymper were dust on crust and some older debris. At ~2050m there was a sudden transition to ~5cm dry powder on top of a supportive layer. Similar conditions continued all the way to the col, which made for great skiing on the descent. Warm air temperatures and minimal wind. High cloud with periods of sun. When the sun came out, surfaces heated quickly. Some minor rock fall from south cliffs. A few loose wet point releases from rocks on the SW face of Whymper, observed from the col. Valley travel remained supportive at the end of the day.

We skied open slopes in the meadow. The crust was bomb proof. Yesterdays trace of snow was just enough turn on. Good fun on almost zero penetration. We could see the sides of our skis all day. Scattered clouds limited solar effects. There were a few pellet flakes around 1pm. We finished in the sun.

~3cm of overnight snow. Additional 2cm fell on and off during the day. Also periods of sun. Snow was isothermal below 1100m and made for heavy turns. Above there was a melt freeze crust which was generally supportive to skiers and the recent snowfall made skiing enjoyable. Lots of signs of previous sz 2+ slides likely from the warming period last Wednesday / Thursday. These ran several hundred meters. See photos of examples. North aspect snow depth 2m @1500m elevation, 1m @1000 MIN location approximate

Good day out in Haines Pass. We skiied north aspects in Dick creek and found ~10-15 cm of dry powder. 5-10 mm surface hoar had formed to ridge top. Lots of sledders at the popular parking areas. We saw 2-3 deeper slabs that looked fairly recent on lee alpine aspects. 2 of them were north of Nadahinni area in ‘thinner’ snowpack areas and one was previously reported just north of McDonnell peak. This one ran in low angled glaciated terrain which had us thinking twice about a loose plan to head that way…

Beautiful day at Parker Ridge! The snow pack was supportive, light powder on top that got a little wet as the day went on.

Searched for corn, found disappointment. Most of the day was hard pack or a very thick crust. Best riding was found during the ski out at lower elevations.

Spring ski on fries and gravy dsy after mild refreeze. 3 runs between 1130 am and 5 pm. Initial run very firm and icy at top. As day progressed with temps rising to 5c conditions softened. Typical breakable crust on convex features above increasing as temperatures rose. Some old avalanche debris mid run. On uptrack conditions remained firm with very solid base layer.

A classic island ski day. Skied the North Gully of Klitsa. Skins on at about 800m. Was out the whole day and saw no active wet slides, just evidence of old ones. Skiing in the gully was nightmare-ish. Had probably slid at the beginning of the last warming/sunny period and the debris had formed into nice basketball-sized ice chunks. Walked the bottom 100m of the Gully just to get out. The choke point is about 5 feet wide right now so probably about another week before you can't ski top to bottom, get out there if ur keen for some serious type 2 fun. I'll certainly be waiting until next winter to go back.

Overnight temps froze the snowpack. By mid afternoon the upper 2-5cm had softened up and made for nice skiing. Steady 40km/h from the West throughout the day. Snow fell on and off all day. ~2cm accumulation. Snow depth 2.9m @1500m

Great spring riding, a few bare spots, but great going in the open country. A heavy slide in the North Arm Hills Bowl and many more wind loaded slopes ready to follow suit. Spring corn snow at mid day, plus temperatures all day.

Hero’s Knob loop - actually, pretty good! No overnight freeze. The flats from the road were still supportive (~1cm ski penetration), and the creek crossing was also in good shape. Cloudy skies with occasional sun breaking through, but never long enough to significantly heat rock/snow. Flurries in the air, minimal accumulation. Sheltered/north aspects had 5-10cm wet snow on top of a substantially supportive layer. Solar slopes had 1-3cm soft surface on top of the existing surface crust. Sweet sixteen skied better than expected with soft ~moist snow on sheltered lines, and edge-able on wind blown aspects. Previous wet loose debris littered the skier’s right side but few ski tracks left plenty of space available. On lower slopes, sluff quickly turned into roller balls and pinwheels. It didn’t pick up enough mass to be a problem. Old tracks, new tracks, and accumulated pinwheel sluff will all be challenging obstacles once the next refreeze locks things down. The final ~100m of descent was elephant snot, yet the exit track and final flats were still supportive. No new natural activity observed. Some wet loose debris appeared to be ~24-48h old.

Just saw this from the road, unsure of date but it looked fresh and wasn't reported.

Despite the 6 degree overnight low in the valley the snow was immediately refrozen. Very hard surface crust in the open with no signs of softening at noon above 1800m even on directly south aspects. Winds were light and keeping things things cool with brief flurries. Bears are out and walked along our skin track while we were up skiing.

At least a couple days old, probably during one of the warmer days earlier this week? Slid to the ground

On April 18, Parks Canada Visitor Safety responded to a serious incident involving an unroped crevasse fall near the top of the Athabasca Glacier. A skier descending the glacier fell approximately 20 metres into a crevasse, sustaining significant injuries. The rescue was further complicated by numerous crevasses in the surrounding area. This incident serves as an important reminder that spring conditions on glaciers present significant and often hidden hazards. While crevasses may be less visible at this time of year, snow bridges remain thin, weak, and unpredictable, having only recently formed over the past few weeks.

Our observations agreed with the considerable forecast yesterday 4/18. We saw a lot of rollerball activity, multiple collapsed cornices, quite a bit of slides. Corn was lovely where not affected by avalanche debris. We were happy we made conservative decisions, even adding a bit of mileage/vert to avoid spending time beneath cornices. Cornices and steep slopes were heavily sun affected, SW slopes had lots of sloughing. Also worth noting we didn’t see any open crevasses, a very small bergschrund we skied over, likely to change as warming continues

On S aspects the upper 20cm was extremely heavy and wet. By mid afternoon most turns on S aspects were sluffing small wet slides. N aspects skied better with ski penetration of 5cm. Intense sun was out until clouds came in around 2pm. Light rain began around 430pm. Parked about 1km down the branch road to Roberts due to some shaded lingering snow.

Good (and long) day to get to Fatigue, near Citadel. Supportive crust all day in the meadows even though sun was packing a punch and surface snow was moist. Skied the S facing avi path just in front of Citadel. Surface snow was moist but the underlying crust was solid but not too icy either - some slow sluffing but nothing to report aside from really good turns. Party of 2 looked to have skied the N chute of Citadel yesterday A few things though to note: -Impressive debris from Quartz1 following a cornice break - one chunk was as big as a Sprinter van and it went full path to the trees - see pics - likely 24-48h old as there wasn't any blown snow on the debris - never seen it as extensive as this over last 10 years - Lots of E facing slabs along Quartz 1 and 2 and even further down (the line that Kevin Hjertaas liked to ski) - Cornice on top of Fatigue @ 2960m has detached off the ridge - the thing is absolutely massive -see pics - got me wondering about other lines and overhead hazard that you think is locked in - until you see it up close ...

Parked at 1000m on the cheekeye fsr, was Subaru friendly. Hard overnight freeze meant fast travel but was very solid until the main Garibaldi face which catches some morning sun so warmed up. Summit just after 11 which seemed a nice time to get on top for a good ski down as things softened. Large cornice fall off hogs back ridge (?) which triggered a large slab avalanche over 1.5m deep, size 2.5. Everyone was skiing over the debris quickly as there's still a lot of overhead there, unsure of when it fell but must be the last day or two

Skiing on Three Guardsmen, spotted a newly formed avalanche starting below Mac Conell north peak with the binoculars. It seems to be about 1.5km long, starting just under the ridge and under the rocks of the peak. We couldn’t see if it was natural or triggered by skiers.

Previous wet slides, nothing notable real recent. Light Westerly ridgetop cooling breeze Refrozen surfaces all aspects+elev above 1800m, except N asp: thin MFcr surface and above ~2000m mostly soft. 10-11am transition corn snow S asp. N asp part sun/shade remained mostly firm by 2pm.

Skied to the end of the forest and made a few turns in sticky snow. Great snow coverage down to 1500m but then it’s dirt. Boot supportive crust above 1600m and if you time it like us you might want to walk rather than deal with the clumping. 70-90cm on a south aspect at 1800m and CT29 break down 20cm at the bottom of the met freeze layer on a north aspect.

Chance Creek FSR is plowed to Cloudburst Main FSR. skins on at car, but not for much longer. Noticed a natural cornice collapse on the N face of Cloudburst. ~150cm crown line on the slab below the cornice 18-25m crown width ~200m total run

Sunny day skiing two steep lines in the Hosmer area. The sun exposed face was beauty corn by 9:00am, sheltered couloir offered unreal knee deep powder. No signs of instability. Snow cover was dry/patchy below 1,350m but worth the walk!

Toured up to the summit of Crowfoot Mountain (and partway up Little Crowfoot). Travel was fast and firm in the morning. Coverage in the canyon was good. No visible sags in the Ferris glacier. Skinned to the Crowfoot ridge line. A party of three ahead of us noted several settlements as they approached ridge line. We boot hiked/traversed to the true summit, keeping to areas of exposed rock and disconnected terrain to stay clear of the large cornices and avoid potential settlements in connected terrain. No further settlements were noted. Ski quality was good overall, but variable at times. ~5cm cold, wind pressed powder. Intermittently grabby wind crust and occasional sastrugi. Clear blue skies all day, but a steady breeze seemed to be keeping alpine slopes cool (still dry when descending at ~12:30 - corn crops needed a while longer). The gully was also still firm/scraping on the exit until the very lower areas. Lake had ~1cm moist surface by 1pm, but still skate-able. Pics of Balfour Col and recent crown on St. Nicholas also attached.

Went for a quick lap of Dolomite Circuit today. Temps were -8 at the car around 0700 when we started and +5 at the car at 1100 when we finished. In the alpine it was warm in the sun, though it didnt feel like ambient air temps went above zero while we were up there. We also observed light winds. There was a solid melt/freeze crust on most aspects that we travelled on which made for fast travel, though the snow on the descent was variable though firm at the time we went down as it hadnt had a chance to warm up yet. We also noted some wind effect on north facing slopes, and some isolated pockets of very thin wind slabs.

Warspite / Hermione col Great, not quite amazing (not all faceshots like Sunday) 30 settled dry pow A few unreactive pockets of windslab, mostly between 1/4 and 1/2way up the pitch and were bonding to the underlying snow, couple small spots of few cm windskin CTH 26 uneven break down 75 on crust complex, north aspect, maybe 1/4 way up in one of the slabby spots Expected more but only saw one small sluff off the heated headwall Small cornice over the pitch, somewhat supported Dropped before noon so still expecting the heat to kick in Winds seemed to pick up once on the return route Overall rad day

The whole upper south face of the Second Tooth was covered in boot-deep coarse facets. Skied surprisingly well—if you’re into that sort of thing. I was kind of shocked given how high the isotherms have been recently. The ski out is still hanging in there, though it’s definitely getting a bit pine-needly in spots.

Great great great dust on crust then corn skiing the middle sister. Saw one crown from yesterdays's storm on an east facing ridge and a couple pieces of a cornice failure likely from last week. Access is sporty but fun!

Good travels conditions, freezing levels were 1700m today. Variable wind slab to crust made for poor skiing but had fun walking the ridge to the summit in the sun. Crampons and an ice were used. Mistaya river still well frozen.

summited cathedral and skied the north couloir out . -9.0 in parking lot at 7:00 am. Great travel with trace on a supportive crust on south quarter aspects. S quarter cycle of wet loose over last 3-5 days under 2500m . Intense solar throughout day with calm-light winds to summit.Surface Snow became moist around 1130 at 2650.m. Glacier was well filled and easy travel to summit. Some wind effect at ridge top but unreactive. North aspects above 2400m skied well. Trace on bomber crust throughout the rest.

ALL the weathers today in the Crowsnest for our trip around to the North side of the Seven Sisters …… sunshine one minute, thrashing snow the next! We found 20 cm of soft snow on a solid supportive crust, with no wind affect at all (yup, you heard that right, NO wind affect in the Pass !). No sign of recent avalanches, and that new 20 cm seems to be bonding well to the crust. Sled access up the Allison Creek road is a little patchy for the first km or so, but its still “in” for at least this weekend. Today was our last field day for this winter :-(, but forecasts are still published daily until next weekend 25/26/27 April. Thanks for an awesome season with great MIN submissions and engagement !! xx The South Rockies Field Team.

FHR traverse is in good shape Fast travel on supportive frozen snow up and down Good Track is set all the way up Headwall was ok, 5-10 cm of dry snow on top of a crust, didn’t get wet by 11am. Sunny then overcast after 11am. Riding quality not so good (breakable crust then supportive snow) but we were able to skate all the flats below Burstall Pass. Slope below the arch of the « hole in the wall couloir » would be happy to receive more snow

Spring conditions were in full effect at 5040 this week. Overnight temps on Monday and Tuesday dropped below freezing, with temperatures well above 10C throughout the day. A surface crust melted late in the morning, making for some very moist, but enjoyable riding conditions mid-day. By late afternoon, the snow became completely wet, making uphill travel challenging. While setting a skin track on a steep west-facing slope, we set off a couple size 0.5 wet-loose slabs. Snowline starts around the bluff, halfway up to Cobalt Lake. Still lots of snow up at the hut.

Lots of old big wet slides. A few newer one from the last storm. Lots of timber getting smashed

We had a great spring day in Tommy 3. A cold night had re-frozen the snowpack which made for easy travel. We explored bowls, climbed through tight passes and linked alpine features. The Alpine snowpack was hard with multiple melt freeze crusts that were well bonded to the surrounding snow. Solar aspects softened up in the afternoon but we did not see any new avalanches. The trail was melted out to kilometer 5.5.

Party of 3 left parking lot at 6:45AM, easy travel to the base and through the trees. Brutal winds howling, and ping pong ball conditions on the approach. A second party of 3 caught up to us and we tackled the boot pack together. Couloir was somewhat wind affected (approx 5-8cm skin) with a supportive mid pack. Wind gusts on the bootpack were intermittent, but strong at times. No rock fall or major sluffing noted on the bootpack. Skiing was surprisingly good for this year, and better than we expected based on the approach. Quite soft with a few face shots thrown in. A lot of sluff management needed on descent, first skier down did trigger a very small wind slab in an isolated wind loaded pocket (maybe size 0.5) that did not propagate, step down, or run far.

We had limited visibility today for travel so we followed our sled tracks from yesterday to head a little further into the Big Blue drainage. The winds were strong from the south with temperatures of -4 at 1550 meters. We did not ride due to visibility but did get our heads in the snow for a look at the snowpack. On a wind loaded alpine north aspect at 1550m, the foot penetration was 25cm. With the height of snow around 190 cm, we found no results of concern. We did a deep tap test on our Dec melt freeze crust with no results; DTN, CTX, ECTX.

Back into winter today up at Mear Lake. We found 10 cm of new snow (yay, fresh pow!) overlying a supportive-to-boots crust on all aspects and elevations. The sky was overcast, with on and off snow throughout the day. Temperatures stayed below zero (- 2 at 2200 m ) keeping that crust from breaking down, and there was only light wind - so no cornice-building, or wind-loading. With all that, we weren't surprised to see no new avalanches, nor signs of instability. Access up Crossing Creek is very bony up to the old Sawmill site, but great after that. Thanks @ElkfordSnow for a great season, we appreciate all of the work you do for the trails!

Lots of trees down on the Schoen Road kept us out of Kokummi Pass today. Someone (Parks?) has cleared some of the way but a thick trunk at cab height turned us around roughly where the location pin is.

Not quite a tragedy but we ended up in the Capulet Creek area a bit too late to start ascending after being turned around at Schoen Lake. The access assessment was quite worthwhile though. Expect a bit of bush pinstriping on the Rooney Lake Main. We parked at about 900m, just below the RL680 branch and had a short walk in patchy road coverage, following a few old ski tracks slowly disappearing with the low elevation snow. We turned around about 1km back from the end of the Rooney Lake Main. The area looks like it still has good potential for a daytrip with sleds not really needed to cover the short approach distance. A final look up the Owen Creek drainange was worth the time as well, however old avalanches block the last few km of the road, just beyond Owen Lake. Tick tock! ;)

A lovely tour in the sunshine up the Hudson Bay area today. We were out by noon so unable to confirm how much of an effect the April sun had on the snow in the afternoon. Surfaces were still frozen while we were out. We gave cornices a wide berth on the ridgeline, in some areas they still look quite large and fragile. More details in photo captions.