Avalanche Observations

Mt Brennan 1 month ago Observation Early start and big day hiking and skiing Brennan. Good vibes, soft snow, skied all the way to the lake. Lots of melting going on but still good skiing to 2400m 1 photos

Elbow lake couloir 1 month ago Observation Skied the elbow lake couloir/campground couloir this morning. We biked in and camped Friday night and woke up early ish to ski the line above the campground. 3 photos

Avalanche control detonations on Mt Stephen, Monday June 7, 2021 1 month ago Observation Parks Canada will be detonating the remaining explosives from the Mt Stephen Remote Avalanche Control System (RACS) in Yoho National Park on Monday, June 7, 2021. No climbing, scrambling or other activities on Mt Stephen tomorrow. 1 photos

Overhead Spring Avalanche Hazard 1 month ago Observation Given the warm temps and excellent rock climbing conditions, one tends to forget how much snow is still left in upper elevations, namely in the start and feeding zones of many large avalanche paths that threaten rock climbs like the new base climbs on Mt. 1 photos

Sticky skiing 2 months ago Observation This morning I climbed up Mt Begbie and skied back down. The trail was mostly free of snow up to around 1500m, then I was able to skin from 1600m. Unsurprisingly the snow didn’t freeze last night, but it was mostly pretty consolidated up to ankle deep. 2 photos

Current conditions photos - Banff National Park 2 months ago Observation Attached are few photos taken of various peaks, hikes, scrambles and climbing routes during a flight on May 30, 2021. More photos can be viewed on the Parks Mountain Safety FB page using the link below. https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?vanity=ParksMountainSafety&set=a.393... 6 photos

AA col 2 months ago Observation Fair travel to the AA col, breaking through a hard crust into 15-20 cms of low density snow over the season's consolidated snowpack. We didn't encounter any windslab but chose to avoid the actual AA col slope as it looked loaded from Thursday and Friday's storm with winds from the SW. 2 photos

Mt Andromeda; Skyladder JNP 2 months ago Observation Directly observed and reported immediately. Initial speculation is that the pair triggered the slide and were climbing, short roped together. Ski tracks unrelated. 2 photos

Spring cycle in White Pass 2 months ago Observation Widespread avalanche cycle with wet loose slides on all aspects in last couple days in White Pass (guessing since May 25th). Today we observed hundreds of paths with fresh debris in alpine from Tutshi thru to Fraser. 3 photos

North Twin 2 months ago Observation Spent the weekend on the Columbia icefields. Setup high camp near Kitchener Saturday at 3150m. Travel through the bypass was excellent. Saturday was busy with dozens out & about on various objectives. Sunday started off great, bulletproof freeze @ -12 & clear skis. 4 photos

Stanley North Face - Kahl Route 2 months ago Observation Unfortunately my first avalanche involvement and MIN today. Busy day on the Kahl route with maybe 20 people. 1 photos

Jimmy junior 2 months ago Observation Went up Jimmy junior to ski some corn snow. We where a bit late but the slope was mellow enough that we weren’t to concerned although we did miss the corn snow and got some semi isothermic slush skiing instead which wasn’t ideal. 2 photos

Bourgeau - size 3 ? 2 months ago Observation Lazy day at the resort today - but upon returning to parking at 2pm, heard (and then saw) that Bourgeau was shedding over the ice fall route. Must’ve lasted like 3min and it looked almost like Takakkaw Falls - huge volume of snow came down.

FHR 2 months ago Observation Good refreeze in k country today and good early morning travel. South facing steep faces started unloading about 10:30 am today and were shedding snow frequently for the rest of the day.

Conditions + huge serac (icefall) release off Snow Dome 2 months ago Observation We were up on the icefields 11-14 May. We were fortunate to experience excellent spring ski-mountaineering conditions with mostly clear skies, warm(ish) temps and virtually zero wind. Much more pleasant than my previous trip up there early May. 1 photos

Sunshine Meadows 2 months ago Observation There was a skiable freeze above 2200m in the sunshine Meadows. Steep east and south alpine aspects were wet at 9am and avalanche activity began on these aspects at 930am. The travel and ski conditions were still good when I when inbounds at 130pm but the crust felt like it was about to get punchy. 1 photos

Mt. Andromache 2 months ago Observation Plan was to go up Hector access headwall, up to Andromache peak, ski north glacier and out Noseeum. Overnight freeze (-2 deg at 630am) was enough for fast travel to headwall. Skis on to base of second waterfall, no crampons. On solar, top 5 cm moist on hard crust to top Andromache. 2 photos

Tent ridge 2 months ago Observation Good freeze Sunday night made for excellent conditions at tent ridge this morning. 10cm of dry powder on a solid crust. Snow in the NE bowl was getting moist by 930am. Surface snow slid on the crust at the top of the bowl on the steeper convex roll.

Excellent May Powder skiing in the alpine 2 months ago Observation I spent the weekend guiding a quick Wapta traverse. We started at Bow Lake Saturday morning and spent the night at the Scott Duncan. Early yesterday morning we continued down below Mt. Niles to Sherbrooke Ck and the highway. Conditions were excellent for this time of the year. 3 photos

Cathedral Mountain 2 months ago Observation Attempted Mt Cathedral yesterday (Sunday). We turned around due to limited visibility and slow travel due to trail breaking (15-20cm ski pen). Weather was partly cloudy in the morning but the clouds thickened and it was snowing steadily with dense fog above 2700m. Winds mostly calm. 11 photos

Narao double attempt 2 months ago Observation Tried to ski the narao left couloir today but bailed. We where up early and travel was fast and easy. The snow surface was generally dust on a supportive crust and as we got higher the dusting of snow got more substantial. The fan of the line had around 5cm of fresh snow that was light and airy. 1 photos

Good coverage 2 months ago Observation We took advantage of a good weather window May 4-6 to climb and ski some peaks on the Columbia Icefields. 2 photos

Tent Ridge 2 months ago Observation Storm snow was heavy and bonding very poorly with crust. 2 photos

Twin Cairns 2 months ago Observation Spent the last three days skiing around sunshine. Wednesday I skied the north and west aspects off of Twin Cairns. Great dust on crust conditions and a great freeze. Circled back out via the Healy pass trail. 1 photos

Log Cabin 2 months ago Observation Warm day, we opted for Log Cabin when clouds rolled in. We skinned up to 1400m then descended from there due to limited visibility and softening snow. Overcast and light south wind, temp was up to 8C at 1230 in the alpine. Skiing was consistent soft mushy spring snow. 1 photos

Alpine soup. 2 months ago Observation A warm low visibility day out at the pass. You could see the peaks until 9am and then the fog and cloud rolled in quickly limiting visibility. The temps were inverted first thing in the morning with a very slight overnight refreeze at valley bottom. 3 photos

Spring conditions. 2 months ago Observation An overcast warm day at the pass. Visibility was in and out through the day. Our coldest temp was -1c at 1850m. We travelled up to the notch and then up towards Taiya. In the alpine, on north facing lee features 20cm of moist snow sits on an old crust. The new snow has slab properties. 3 photos

Deep snow on Taiya north 2 months ago Observation Skied the Taiya north glacier and encountered approximately 30cm of warm powder well-bonded from the summit ridge down to 1500m. Ski cutting produced some sluffing but slab properties were not present on the sheltered north face and no recent avalanches observed in the area. 2 photos

Mount Columbia - Wet Slab 2 months ago Observation Avalanche on SE face of Mount Columbia. 5-6 parties of 2-4 people per group reached the summit between ~12:30pm and 1:20pm. The first group of two snow boarders set off the wet slab avalanche(s), just out of sight of the person reporting. 4 photos

Mt Rhondda 2 months ago Observation Impressive sz 3-3.5 slab ripped off an unsupported lee slope on Vulture. Appeared to be relatively recent as the crown was not filled in by the new snow. I could be wrong, however. See photo 3. Small isolated windslabs w cornice triggered events occurred recently off Thompson. 3 photos

Citadel Peak 2 months ago Observation Climbied citadel peak via the lower angled south ridge. The east ridge was too soft by the time I got there around noon. Good travel early in the morning but the over night freeze below 2400m was pretty weak. Wind exposed slopes froze better. 3 photos

Sunshine Meadows 3 months ago Observation Good freeze with easy travel conditions. Some skate skiers made it to citadel pass. It started out sunny then clouded over at 1130. We skied the east aspect off of quartz hill but it was not quite soft at 1130. Found some good corn skiing on mellow south facing slopes above howard douglas lake.

Whitepass - Big Y Area 3 months ago Observation dug both pits to 1.4m Both sw aspects Pit 1 faceted layer from 14 to 29cm (2-4cm) and another at 49-54cm4\ CTE3 at 19 down Pit 2 ECTE4 at 14 down

Mt Lefroy 3 months ago Observation Skied Lefroy W face today via the Death trap and the Sexsmith sneak. An oddly quiet day from the Victoria glacier, not sure I've ever not heard multiple seracs falls when in the vicinity but nothing moved all day today which was great. 4 photos

Log cabin 3 months ago Observation Sunny and warm temps brought softer snow even into the alpine. Minimal wind until close to the peak, then a south wind was noted. Snow layer at a 10cm depth still below zero at close to noon. 1 1/2” slabs could be created with ski pole probing. SHORTS weather! 1 photos

Rumbling Glacier 3 months ago Observation Witnessed the first 1.5 wet slab/loose wet triggered by a school bus sized chunk that broke off from Tantalus Ridge (E facing; photo 1). It stopped just before our party. 4 photos

Columnar 3 months ago Observation Day trip to the summit of Columnar and skied the south face. Thankfully some clouds hung around and kept the slopes out of direct sunlight. Snow was soft by 9AM and isothermal by noon. Lots of signs of natural wet-loose slides on Columnar and the Gargoyles. 4 photos

Mt. Whymper 3 months ago Observation Previous night freeze allowed very supportive and fast travel right from highway, at 8am (-3deg C). Travel in upper bowl below col was dust on melt-freeze crust. Crust was slightly breakable with a good stamp of the ski if no ski crampons thus ski crampons very useful. 3 photos

Saint Nicholas 3 months ago Observation Can still connect the snow patches in the gravel flats past bow lake. Canyon travels well. Just a couple thinner snow bridges over the creek. Good coverage to bow hut. Solid crust today above 2400m on NE slopes till at least mid afternoon with approximately 10 cm of dry snow above the crust.

Pleasant skiing on supportive crust 3 months ago Observation Skied a lap on the regular Tent Ridge NE face. -4C at the parking lot at 6.30 and about two cm of fluffy overnight snow, which prevented a better refreeze. The day turned out to be cloudier and cooler than anticipated so the crust remained supportive until we left around noon. 1 photos

Cirque Peak N glacier 3 months ago Observation Did Cirque via Num-Ti-Jah - didn’t see a soul as everybody was either skiing Hector or going towards Bow Hut. Fast travel on the MFCr. Ridge to summit looked bare (pic 1) but it was perfect on the up (pic 2). Didn’t use boot crampons but good thing the sun softened things up a bit for us. 4 photos

Halcyon ridge 3 months ago Observation Up log cabin and along the halcyon ridge to Fraser. Fog bank lingering over Fraser turned us around and made good use of our whiteout navigation skills. Log cabin was sunny all day. 1 photos

Cobra fail 3 months ago Observation Attempted cobra couloir this morning but after getting up to below the line we realized another group was already tranisitioning to bootpacking.

Mount Hector 3 months ago Observation See photo, not new. Ran a few weeks prior. 3 photos

Grand Daddy - variable snow with cornice failure 3 months ago Observation Witnessed cornice failure at 830am after about 15 minutes of intense sun exposure. Uv index would be very high 2 photos

Cheam 3 months ago Observation Mostly partially broken clouds, a couple rounds of graupel passed through. Sun came out once in a while, but only for a couple mins at a time. 2 photos

Good spring skiing up high still 3 months ago Observation I enjoyed a day on the French-Haig-Robertson tour in K-Country yesterday. We chose this tour for the obvious reasons -- it gets you up high, there's great views, and the glaciers and steep sided north-facing valleys still hold lots of snow. The morning was fine and warm, +6 C at the parking lot. 1 photos

Poor skiing but at least there was lots of avalanche activity:) 3 months ago Observation Went for a conditions check around Warspite/Black Prince and found not much current good news. Uphill travel was pretty good but it is getting thin down low and soft on the south faces around rocks and trees by about 11am. The initial bridge crossing felt a bit like slacklining.

Spring-ter 3 months ago Observation Good skiing and tricky travel - we picked our way up an E facing av. path and had to use a combo of crampons and bootpacking; the loose, wet snow is keen to stick to skins, but zero adhesion to the crust beneath. 3 photos