It may be spring but it’s still winter in the Babines!

Super cold temperatures this morning up at the Onion, and the freezing northeast winds didn’t help. After warming up in the cabin, we headed out to check the area. We started seeing avalanches pretty quickly—see photos and captions for details. The most concerning was a large slide at treeline, which may have been remotely triggered by other sledders prior to the last storm. It failed on a persistent weak layer: a crust now buried 100–150 cm deep. Triggering a layer at that depth requires hitting the right spot—likely a spot with a thinner snowpack—but if it does go, it can produce very large and destructive avalanches. Some of the debris blocks were refrigerator-sized and had set up like concrete. Right now, the best and safest riding is in sheltered, non-wind-affected areas below treeline. The greatest concern we had was for north through east-facing slopes at treeline. Smaller wind slabs in the alpine are also something to watch for, especially since they have the potential to step down to the deeper persistent layer.