East Island
Avalanche Forecast
Published: Apr 28th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Loose Wet, Wind Slabs.
Published: Apr 25th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Loose Wet.
Published: Apr 24th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Loose Wet.
Published: Apr 23rd, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Loose Wet.
Published: Apr 23rd, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Loose Wet.
Published: Apr 22nd, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Published: Apr 21st, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Published: Apr 20th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Published: Apr 19th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Published: Apr 18th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Published: Apr 17th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Published: Apr 16th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Published: Apr 15th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Published: Apr 14th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Cornices, Wind Slabs.
Published: Apr 13th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs.
Published: Apr 12th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs.
Published: Apr 11th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs.
Published: Apr 10th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs.
Published: Apr 9th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Apr 8th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Apr 7th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs.
Published: Apr 6th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Apr 5th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Published: Apr 4th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Published: Apr 3rd, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Published: Apr 2nd, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Published: Apr 1st, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 31st, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Mar 30th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Mar 29th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Mar 28th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Mar 27th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Mar 27th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 26th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Loose Wet, Wet Slabs.
Published: Mar 25th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Mar 24th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Mar 23rd, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Mar 22nd, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs.
Published: Mar 21st, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs.
Published: Mar 20th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs.
Published: Mar 19th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs.
Published: Mar 19th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs.
Published: Mar 18th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Loose Wet, Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 17th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs.
Published: Mar 16th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs.
Published: Mar 15th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs.
Published: Mar 14th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 13th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Mar 12th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs.
Published: Mar 11th, 2025Mcreight has weight
<p>Wind scoured on SE aspects but still predictable and fun. Poor visibility so we opted to lap the trees lower down with some nice pockets of wind transport found. Triggered a small slide on a convex feature. 50cm crown certainly brings to light possibilities of poor bond of recent snowfall. Poor visibility likely saved us from making poor choices in the wind loaded area off the top. </p>
gdybdal,
Friday 21st April, 2023 8:00PM
Wintery Washy
<p>With all the snow that has been falling lately, we decided to keep our plan simple and head to the Mount Washington area to see how it was all settling out. We found 50 cm of storm snow from the past 3 days. The top 20 cm was light and dry, which became progressively more dense. Around 30 cm deep, there was a thin melt-freeze crust that likely came from Sunday's brief warming. While we did get moderate sudden planar results in both our compression test and our extended column test near the bottom of the storm snow, we did not see this translating to a storm slab that was reactive to skier or sledder traffic. There was evidence of loose dry avalanches out of steep terrain from during the storm, and more occurring as the sun hit the slopes. By noon, the sun and warming temperatures were rapidly settling the snowpack, making for much heavier snow and firmer travel. </p>
AvCan Vancouver Island,
Tuesday 18th April, 2023 2:20PM
McKay Lake
<p>20+cm of snowfall at 1200m between 9am and 1pm. Easy results on column tests, moderate on extended column tests.</p>
jakobson.erik,
Monday 17th April, 2023 2:40PM
Circlet Lake
<p>Camped Friday night at Circlet Lake, traveling from Paradise Meadows. Friday was sunny, and the snow from the previous storm was deep (~50cm) and very wet/heavy. Evidence of small wet loose on solar aspects. From Circlet we could see evidence of numerous slab avalanches on both East (Jutland/Edward ridge) and West (Strata Mountain) faces, particularly on convex and rocky features. Size was variable, and from a distance the depth of slab was unclear, though some comprised most of the width of the feature/face. Overnight >20cm of fresh snow fell, and we returned to the car to ride another day.</p>
dylanzaluski,
Saturday 8th April, 2023 7:10PM
Good Friday? More like Great Friday!
<p>With the weather stations reporting a whopping 80 cm of new snow in the past 24 hours in the Strathcona park area, we had to head up and check it out at Beadnell. We headed up the Oyster main to the Mass main, and were able to park at the top of the cutblock. Lucky for us, this is exactly where sled-able snow began. It was a fairly easy trip up the trail to the cabin and across the meadow, with only moderate woops on the trail. Around the cabin and cutblock area, there was about 10 cm of wet new snow. From there we headed straight to the chute which was in fair condition, good snow with a central trench that was fairly deep. The trail to the upper cabin was in good shape, and when we arrived there, we found around 30 cm of dry snow. We headed up to the top to check the surroundings and spotted numerous dry loose, few 10-15 cm wind slab, and several loose wet avalanches with more occurring as we watched. All of these avalanches came out of steep terrain. The sledding conditions were incredible up top, with occasional firm reminders of the wind effect to bring you back to reality. By midday, a few other groups of sledders had arrived and began testing the slopes thoroughly with minimal results. I guess it's not time to pack the sled up yet. An awesome April storm, thank you to the Easter Bunny for this special treat. </p>
AvCan Vancouver Island,
Friday 7th April, 2023 3:10PM
Memekay Poke
<p>Finally cracked the seal on a zone we long suspected might be a sledder's paradise, but the well-beaten trail suggests we may be the only island sledders that didn't know about it! We topped out at only 1050 m, but even here, moderate south winds were creating light wind transport of surface snow. Speaking of surfaces, we found anywhere from 4-15 cm of storm snow on the hard March 30 crust, less in open and south-facing areas recently kissed by the sun, more on shady slopes. A couple of steep, south facing cutblocks had size 1-1.5 wet loose avalanches on them with debris that looked fresh enough to be triggered by yesterday's warming. 250 cm snowpack at lakeside with 1 m of snow on the lake ice. Lots more exploring to do here after today's poke! Also plenty of traffic on the White River Main, where radio channel WF MIFO 5 should be used.</p>
AvCan Vancouver Island,
Wednesday 5th April, 2023 3:00PM
Beauforts
<p>Beautiful sunny morning in the Beauforts turned to mod-heavy snowfall and limited visibility around noon, with up to 5cm accumulating down to 600m. Most open slopes at treeline had wind affect from yesterdays north winds, but anywhere sheltered and north facing provided great turns in 15-25cm low density snow over solid crust.
No recent avalanche activity observed. </p>
joerschwartz,
Sunday 2nd April, 2023 2:50PM
Our thighs are bigger after summiting High Rigger
<p>The fun in the sun continues. Today we set our sights on High Rigger Peak in the Prince of Wales Range (POW for short!). It was our first attempt at this particular peak and boy are we glad we went. With the machines fueled and doughnuts in our bellys we drove north turning on to the Dalrymple Main in the Sayward Valley. The road was steep and a bit overgrown, we met a patchy snow line at just under 600 m. From there we used our snowmobiles, then were forced to start on foot at the bottom of a large south facing cut block at roughly 1000 m. By 11:00 am the sun had already warmed the top 15 cm of snow, making travel up the steep cut block tedious with a firm crust underneath. At the top of the block, we were relieved to take shelter from the sun as we skinned up and across a beautifully spaced forest of larger trees. Travel became easier as the day went on and the surface snow became more edge-able to side hill. On the peak the views were stupendous as we enjoyed a snack. The ski down was a mix bag of fun. From icy alpine slopes, to soft treeline openings and even open variable tree skiing, High Rigger delivered the goods. With varying amounts of new snow in the forecast across the island, stay posted to our website before heading out this weekend. </p>
AvCan Vancouver Island,
Thursday 30th March, 2023 4:20PM
We've had enough of the (melt) freezies, bring on the snow cones!
<p>With new snow in the forecast we headed to Elk Mountain to get a grip on the crust layer being buried. The Elk Main was plowed up to the braid at kilometre 3 where we hoped on our snowmobiles. Seems like active logging is occurring at Km 1.5 & past Km 3. Low visibility, flat light, icy conditions, overheating engines and a creek made for an adventurous ascent. The road became more wind affected the higher we climbed so at 1100 m we strapped on our two planks. Travel was edge-able and fast on the skin track, ski pen was <1 cm. The storm arrived at 1130 and increased in severity as the day went on with light South East wind blowing the snow around. We noted pinwheeling on all aspects from the last few warmer days but no new avalanches to report (visibility was poor keep in mind). Our surface crust is 5 cm thick, with dry snow underneath, air temperature was -3 at 1600 m. Survival skiing was the name of the game. The snow was grabby and wanted to throw you off balance with every turn. Good news is we can confirm its snowing again! </p>
AvCan Vancouver Island,
Thursday 23rd March, 2023 3:30PM
Strata Slide
<p>Around 20cm of storm snow over 48h. Caused a size 1 slide on a steep convex roll during a ski cut. A few others have been caught in slides here. 50cm crown. I</p>
Tiffany Cunha,
Wednesday 15th March, 2023 4:50PM
Hammerin' Cameron
<p>After a successful day of dodging wind slabs yesterday, we thought we'd go track some down today to get a better read on the problem. Wind-exposed Mt Cameron was a great spot for it. We found lighly wind loaded north aspects at 1300 m holding about 25 cm of storm snow that would produce cracks and wind slab chunks as we skinned along the top edges of steep slopes, but breaking away much more easily when one of us would cut away the toe support of the slab. All in all quite stubborn reactivity. (Maybe touchier with a bit more elevation?) Our snowpack tests yielded easy (wrist taps) but again quite resistant shears at the storm interface, with a moderate propensity for fractures to propagate across our extended test column. Ski cutting results were consistent with our tests, evidence of a slab for sure, but stubborn to skier trigger and not propagating much. A walk around on more windward aspects seemed to confirm the lack of a more widespread storm slab.</p>
AvCan Vancouver Island,
Tuesday 14th March, 2023 4:20PM
Brooks Elma
<p>Skied north and East aspects off Allen Brooks. No signs of instability other than some dry loose sluffing on steep features. At ridge top the snow pack stiffened and was wind effected/pressed. Did not find any sign of slabs other than ridge top of Brooks. Skied west aspect of Elma with similar obs to Allen Brooks. Fortunately the sun stayed behind the clouds for the most part preventing any significant warming. Skiing was excellent all day.</p>
ahorembala,
Tuesday 7th March, 2023 7:30PM
Elma 👌
<p>Two laps on the west aspect. No signs of instability or storm slab.
One lap on the north east ridge. More prominent crust under the new snow, on this aspect.
Ski penitration ~30cm+
No signs of natural avalanches in the periods of better visibility. </p>
rachael.ince,
Sunday 5th March, 2023 5:40PM
Wild Morning Wood
<p>This morning on Wood mountain was awesome! ~30cm of fresh powder and 50cm foot penetration. Temps started rising after 10am and the snow on wood changed from soft to heavier / wet.
Triggered a couple sluffs on steep slopes and spotted a little slide triggered by snow bombing.
Didn’t venture over to Becher.</p>
sportnewk,
Sunday 5th March, 2023 12:00PM
Mount Beecher
<p>400m from the top of Beecher the slopes got steeper and a 4 inch crust was sliding from light pole wacks. It seemed like a wind slab had formed on this last steep pitch so we decided to turn around and take a safer alternate route on the right hand side of the gully. Snow was deep and moderately heavy riding from the top of Beecher. Snow seemed to be forming better once in the trees on the lower cut runs. </p>
taokwerner,
Saturday 4th March, 2023 6:40PM
Beadnell Brapp
<p>Our goal of the day was to find fresh turn on Alexandra Peak, little did we know the road was full of debris. We encountered multiple loose dry avalanches that buried the road along with large boulders just to make sure we really couldn't make it. Drats. Never hurts to have a backup plan, so we made way for Mt Beadnell. We were pleased to find 20 cms of low density pow and lots more falling. A suncrust developed earlier in the week on all solar aspects therefor we will be monitoring its bond with the new snow tonight and in to the weekend. Keep the snow on comin'!</p>
AvCan Vancouver Island,
Thursday 2nd March, 2023 3:50PM
McCreight was Great
<p>Today we ventured North in search of clear skies and and dreamy turns. We toured up Mt McCreight in the Prince of Wales Range. The new snow was variably in depth, anywhere from 10-50cms, with lots of evidence of wind effect at higher elevations. Skiing quality was very good and we noted 2 size 1 slab avalanches on South aspects. The top 10cms was beginning to moisten as the day progressed on solar aspects. It was a treat to have some pow turns in the sun, awesome day! </p>
AvCan Vancouver Island,
Tuesday 28th February, 2023 4:20PM
Roberts Bush Bash
<p>Attempt at Mt. Roberts. Logging road alder bash followed by new growth bush bash. Approx 15-30 cm light new powder, deeper where drifting had occurred. Slabbing, cracking, and whumphing on crust 15-30 cm down. Surface hoar growth on crust observed on west facing slopes at elevations above 800 m. Significant warming throughout the day, slush and sun crush by late afternoon.
Stayed away from steep slopes but even parts of skin track were sliding in terrain up to 32 deg. Beauty day for views and good company and getting real close and personal with the trees…</p>
cwatamaniuk,
Monday 27th February, 2023 7:10AM
Wind blown
<p>Attempted to get up Mount Cameron. Incoming cloud and winds gusting estimated 60km/h had us turn around at 1200m. Wind crust in the cut blocks on the way out made skiing quad burning. One small (0.5) snow bike caused avalanche on a steep convex slope. Avoided any areas where we may have seen natural activity.</p>
Adam Thompson,
Sunday 26th February, 2023 9:10PM
🐦 day at Brooks!
<p>Awesome day out. Approached via the cross country trails from Raven Lodge (ponds, lake approach, lake trail). Crossed Pigott Creek and followed the drainage to under the saddle and ascended via the northeast aspect.
On the way up, we encountered low density dry snow at treeline in sheltered areas overlying a supportive crust. Around 1,400m+ we found a mix of soft wind slab on lee features and wind-scoured crust on ridgetops. The slabs were mostly unreactive and showed no obvious signs of instability.</p>
adamlrosenbaum,
Sunday 26th February, 2023 7:20PM
Beadnell Bowl Noodles
<p>We wrapped up our week of champagne on crust skiing with some noodling down Beadnell Bowl today. Much like our day in the park yesterday, we found 10-15 cm of fluff--sometimes less, sometimes more--sitting on the crust, again making for challenging travel on anything steep and dreamy turns on anything mellow. Travel in the trees was quite heinous with old frozen tree bombs and drippings rattling our bones on the up and the down. We noticed ever so slightly stiffer wind deposited snow today but not usually in a large enough pocket to constitute a problem. This is definitely something to keep assessing slope by slope though. We each dropped into our steep lines from ridgecrest with a ski cut that yielded no results, but there are almost certainly some slabs lurking out there and the crust beneath continues to provide a excellent bed surface for a wind slab to run on. Nice to see more snow in the forecast!</p>
AvCan Vancouver Island,
Friday 24th February, 2023 4:40PM
Stellar Strathcona
<p>We had excellent views into Strathcona Park today on a tour that took us near Castlecrag in stunning soft, light, fast, COLD powder. 10-15 cm of coldsmoke on a supportive crust was the general coverage, with many areas closer to 5 or occasionally 25 cm. The crust, slippery ice in some spots, was very apparent and the combo of loose fluff on top made for challenging travel on anything steep. Gentle descent lines skied amazingly. Much like we observed on the North Island yesterday, wind slabs we poked at and stomped on were soft and sluggish to fracture, but would still be a serious concern in steep, loaded start zones. Our good deed for all this good fortune was helping get one of our favourite weather stations back online. Fingers crossed these batteries do the trick ..and of course for the wind to stay away another day!</p>
AvCan Vancouver Island,
Thursday 23rd February, 2023 10:00PM
Strong winds and variable snow
<p>The new snow seemed to be bonding fairly nicely to the crust underneath, where it had been deposited by the strong winds out there. We didn’t observe any avalanche activity on our trip out to the ridge adjoining Jutland, just some debris covered in a new layer of snow from a previous cycle.
Later in the day, the snow started to warm up and get heavier, but still seemed quite stable</p>
tristan.crosby95,
Sunday 19th February, 2023 7:40AM
Couple good laps
<p>Found a slide from possibly Thursday I'm guessing. Started up a coulior and then propagated a size two avalanche. Conditions felt fine today. Lots of wind affected areas but not bad riding in the protected bowl areas </p>
faller.dtorchard,
Saturday 11th February, 2023 5:20PM
Birthday Party on Brooks
<p>1 Small Avalanche 15-20 cm crown from Yesterday</p>
cheftroy71,
Sunday 5th February, 2023 4:30PM
Mountain Shoulder
<p>25+cm of moderate density snow over rust from Tuesday to Friday accumulationds. Much sluffing occurred from ski cuts down to crust. Point releases observed from steep rocky terrain. Open areas definitely feeling wind effected/slabby. Sking was decent but we avoided any consequential terrain due to expected and observed poor bond of new snow on cust.</p>
ahorembala,
Friday 3rd February, 2023 10:00PM
Elkevator to heaven!
<p>Headed up Elk Mt to see how much snow this storm is bringing. As we made our way up the logging road the rain turned to snow at 700 m. At 1500 m there was 15 cm of storm snow by 1pm, and as we headed home it was still snowing heavily. Ski cutting produced a mix of dry loose and soft storm slabs, with slab properties increasing throughout the day. As the snow continues, we are expecting active avalanche conditions again tomorrow.</p>
AvCan Vancouver Island,
Friday 3rd February, 2023 4:20PM
IAG AST2 - Mt Brooks
<p>Island Alpine Guides AST 2 field day out to Mt Brooks. No recent avalanche activity or signs of instability, which isn't ideal for an avalanche course, but we had great weather and nice views into bigger alpine of the park.
Surface hoar growth to 10mm was observed from 1100m right to ridgetop. Surface crust has all but disappeared in this elevation band in sheltered north facing terrain, due to the cold temps and snow faceting. That said, anywhere with tree cover was survival skiing with ice crusts from previous snow melt off the trees. Upper snowpack consists of 10cm is dry faceted snow, and well settled below that. Surprisingly great turns where you could hunt them out.
Concern lies with this surface hoar/crust/facet combo once we receive the forecasted snow and rising freezing temps of the upcoming week. </p>
Joe Schwartz,
Sunday 29th January, 2023 5:10PM
IAG AST2
<p>Second field day of an Island Alpine Guides AST2. Spent the majority of the day between 1300 and 1500m, avoiding most downhill terrain, as the ski conditions are marginal at best.
Observed surface hoar growth at ridgetop, and crust starting to break down on north aspects between 1400-1500m. 10cm dry snow that is beginning to facet below the crust at this elevation. Moist snow below a more supportive crust observed at lower elevations.
Limited solar effect with AM cloud cover.
Please note that this information comes from an Island Alpine Guides professionally led touring trip or avalanche course. Island Alpine Guides is authorized to access Mosaic Forest Management private lands adjacent to the Mount Washington ski area under a land use agreement with Mosaic Forest Management. </p>
Joe Schwartz,
Saturday 28th January, 2023 8:40PM
Balmy Beauforts
<p>It was a warm one up in the Beaufort Range today, with +5 temperatures breaking down crusts on shaded slopes and greenhousey sunshine producing 5 cm of wet snow on sun exposed surfaces. All by 2pm. We saw surprisingly little avalanche activity from the last storms in the Mt Apps bowl with plenty of old tracks in aggressive terrain. Travel is excellent while skiing conditions are poor, but our thoughts are moving to tonight's cool-down and the likelihood of widespread hard crust conditions to come. Sharpen those edges!</p>
AvCan Vancouver Island,
Thursday 26th January, 2023 4:10PM
Beauty Beadnell
<p>A beautiful day above the marine cloud layer at Mt Beadnell today!
We unloaded sleds at the Oyster 100 branch and rode through about 100m of frozen mud (melted by end of day) before hitting snow. It was still chilly at our ski tour transition point above Beadnell Lake, but we really felt the air warming as we ascended.
By our 12:00 summit, we were seeing +5, with sun exposed slopes now moist down 5 cm. Cool north winds and shade kept north aspects from melting, but the damage has already been done. A 1-3 cm melt freeze crust already forms the surface on norths and really wrecks the skiing. We found a few scraps of dry snow at ridgetop but nothing significant. What a shame! On the plus side, the wind slabs we encountered are now old and unreactive.
Bashing through the crust on our steep north aspect descent, we noticed a narrow, warm elevation band between about 1500-1400 m where the mainly dry snow beneath the weakening crust had become moist and would generate massive rollerballs with ski cuts on steep features. This seemed to coincide with shelter from the wind.
Sleds managed the marginal snow a lot better than skis!</p>
AvCan Vancouver Island,
Wednesday 25th January, 2023 4:10PM
Mt Elma from Mt Washington
<p>Warmed up by 10 am. All the snow fell off the trees. Was like walking in a rain storm, so much moisture was coming off the trees. Then the dumps of snow. Most of the snow off the trees now. Snow conditions heavy by noon.
</p>
pkgood,
Tuesday 24th January, 2023 5:40PM
Krusty Kitchener
<p>Snow skied best in the trees. Alpine, ridges and cutblocks were wind affected (either wind loaded or stripped down the most recent crust).
Several instances of wind slab breaking up underfoot while skiing. Snow remained dry above 900m.
175cm @1200m N aspect.</p>
sportnewk,
Sunday 22nd January, 2023 8:10PM
Mt Joan
<p>We snowshoed/skied the Mt Curran/Squarehead/Joan loop Jan 21-22. On Jan 21, the southwest face of Curran on the col down towards Squarehead, there was a highly reactive windslab that was anywhere from 6-12inches deep at approx 1400m and lots of shooting cracks. On Jan 22nd, we traversed over to Mt Squarehead and Joan early in the day. Temps were quite cold and everything was stable, even in more avy terrain. We saw one Size 1 that likely released on the 21st between Squarehead and Joan, but no other activity. There seemed to be a wind crust still, but it didn't propagate as we travelled on it. </p>
lanceshaver,
Sunday 22nd January, 2023 7:20PM
IAG, AST1 course Mt. Washington
Helene,
Thursday 19th January, 2023 5:00PM
Forbidden
thomjgm,
Wednesday 18th January, 2023 9:50PM
We pushed our way up into the park
<p>We saw 50 cm new snow recorded on the weather station at upper Cruickshank this morning, and we just had to go see it with our own eyes. At 400 m on the road there was 4cm of new snow, this quickly increased as we headed up the ridge. By 1000m there was around 50cm of new snow sitting on our saturated snow soup that exists from our previous rain events. By 1100 m this was a semi supportive crust to walking, and by 1200 m it was fully supportive to walking in boots. We skinned up to 1400 m and found 63 cm of glorious soft new powder. In our snowpack tests we found no results, however we still stayed away from isolated steep features and terrain traps as there were multiple small avalanches with the top 10-20 cm of the storm snow involved. We did not get up to the alpine to be able to assess the presence of wind slabs.</p>
AvCan Vancouver Island,
Wednesday 18th January, 2023 7:00PM
IAG AST 2
<p>Last day of an Island Alpine Guides AST2. Cooler temps overnight promoted crust development 1300m and above, mostly supportive to skier weight. 2-5cm new snow sits on top of this crust. Upper and mid pack now well settled and bonded in treeline areas observed today.
Slightly better visibility today allowed for a look around. Saw evidence of a widespread natural avalanche cycle to size 1.5 (wet loose and wet slab) from the last 48 hours out of steep north facing terrain.
Minor pinwheeling and surface sluffing observed in areas skied today.
Please note that this information comes from an Island Alpine Guides professionally lead touring trip or avalanche course. Island Alpine Guides is authorized to access Mosaic Forest Management private lands adjacent to the Mount Washington ski area under a land use agreement with Mosaic Forest Management. </p>
Joe Schwartz,
Sunday 15th January, 2023 5:10PM
AST2 field day 2
<p>Possibly the wettest I've ever been on a day skiing ever, not helped by digging multiple holes in the snow. Rain continued overnight and into this morning. Snow at the top of Hawk chair. We observed some pin wheeling in surprisingly mellow terrain. The snow pack is soaked down to approx. 30cm.
In the test pits we dug at ~1450m we had one resistant planar result down 60cm CT hard 25, second pit, resistant planar down 30 CT hard 23. 2 other compression tests in the same area yielded no result. No result in extended column tests. Rutschblock test partial RB4 30cm down. Only half of the block released on the crust down 30cm. </p>
mikek732,
Saturday 14th January, 2023 4:10PM
AST2 field day 1
<p>First AST2 field day at washy. Heavy wet snow, rain to the summit of Washington. There was very limited visibility but we did not observe any natural avalanche activity. Did not see the winds reported elsewhere and we were unable to get a result in test pits dug on a north west aspects at 1400m. Rain has saturated the top ~30cm of snow pack down to the first crust.
There was the occasional snow flake but we were mainly rained on. </p>
mikek732,
Friday 13th January, 2023 5:50PM
Awesome Alexandra Peak
<p>Headed up Alexandra Peak today to poke into the alpine before the next storm cycle hits. We sledded through crust on our travel up the road till 1300m, and then were pleasantly surprised by the snow quality the rest of the way to 1700m. The snowpack is well consolidated, with evidence of wind slabs in exposed areas that continued to build throughout the day. We were still able to produce mod - hard results on the Jan 1 rain crust, which was down 110cm at our pit location. It was good while lasted, looks like heavy rain is about to soak all elevations starting tomorrow.</p>
AvCan Vancouver Island,
Wednesday 11th January, 2023 4:40PM
Mt. Wishywashy
<p>Beautiful day once we got above the clouds. Temperatures rose quickly, by midday snow was starting to fall off the trees. First run was amazing and touched a convex steep slope and it held. On our second lap we started a small slide in steep trees about 20-30cm deep on a crust layer. We found another small slide started on open terrain by another party and decided to head out. </p>
adrianmacrae,
Tuesday 10th January, 2023 3:20PM
Weak layer way down low
<p>Dug an eastern facing pit on the ridge at 9k on the ridge, maybe 10 degree slope, essentially flat. Snow depth was very deep (200cm+) in this location compared to what we have seen elsewhere. We were able to trigger a release 100cm down on the first hit from shoulder height, so CTH 1. We also believe an even lower layer released at the same time, 130cm down. When we slid the slab off, it was very smooth. I don't pretend to be an expert, but it looks like there is still a reactive layer deep in the snowpack.</p>
swindle123,
Monday 9th January, 2023 11:20AM
backside washington
<p>The plan was to ski some great fresh powder, but the day was cut short after a quick compression test and some less than favourable results.</p>
Marc Burgess,
Sunday 8th January, 2023 1:40PM
Forbidden
<p>Wet cement from the parking lot up, getting slightly lighter by 10000-1100 meters. We stopped at about 11500 at the beginning of the ridge in consideration of the conditions. We saw some big tree bombs from the rain and warming temps throughout the day. Slushy by early afternoon made for a fun ride down the last hill! </p>
heather.michelle.klassen,
Sunday 8th January, 2023 8:10AM
From Brown Beauforts to White Washy
<p>We started our day excited to check out the Beauforts with a trip to Mount Apps. To our dismay, we came across the same issue we have all week. The road is packed ice with rain on top, impassable by vehicle, but then followed by many kms of dirt making it less than desirable travel by snowmobile. In an attempt to salvage our day and see some real snow up close with our eyes, we headed to Mount Washington. It was snowing heavily the whole time we were there, there was about 30cm of new snow in the past 24 hours. We dug a pit away from skier traffic on a northwest aspect around treeline and found results on the early January crust. We had moderate sudden planar results in our compression test as well as moderate sudden planar results in our extended column test. These results left us wary of getting into any avalanche terrain. The winds were howling around us, filling our tracks back in, and likely building wind slabs in the lee areas. </p>
AvCan Vancouver Island,
Friday 6th January, 2023 4:30PM
Excellent Elma
<p>Skied NE and W aspects of Elma today. Snow felt bottomless. Boot penetration 40cm. Ski penetration 20cm. 5-10cm received overnight. Lots of snow redistributed due to wind on summit, ridges and lakes. Skied great in protected trees.
135cm at Helen Mackenzie lake. Forgot to probe at the summit.
No signs of instability noted. </p>
sportnewk,
Wednesday 4th January, 2023 4:00PM
First Foray to Alexandra
<p>After deeming the icy Elk Mountain Main unsafe for truck or sled travel, we switched gears and headed for Buttle Bluffs and Mt Alexandra. Access to the Boundary Range has been problematic of late, with a creek across the Granite Main and bony cutblocks discouraging us from the Oyster Main. A set of snowshoe tracks showed we were not the first ones with the Buttle idea!
After reaching the Alexandra-Adrian col, we donned touring gear to gain a bit of elevation. Surface hoar up to 10mm glimmered in the broken light--atop breakable crust in sun-exposed spots. To be blunt, almost all travel off of the road remains uninviting. Except for isolated features, below treeline is still struggling to reach threshold depths for avalanches but also for worthwhile skiing! Still, about 30 cm of snow since Jan 1 meant that we were slightly better off than survival skiing. The lower the angle, the better right now.
Our profile at 1440m showed minimal reactivity on the weak, 30-cm deep Jan 1 crust . Moist to wet snow begins at this depth and extends to the base of the snowpack. We observed no reactivity on the deeper layers we've been tracking so far over the season.
On our descent through steep rolls at treeline, we observed minimal wind effect and only occasionally felt a small block of storm snow break off the crust mid-turn. We anticipate we'd find greater reactivity at this interface where winds have formed stiffer slabs over it.
</p>
AvCan Vancouver Island,
Tuesday 3rd January, 2023 5:00PM
Mt Becher NE slopes
<p>Ski quality was generally quite good above 1000m. Did several laps on the sheltered NE slopes off the summit before calling it a day. No signs of instability despite the noteworthy results in the pit. Stuck to fairly mellow terrain and avoided steep convex features. Ski quality in the old Forbidden resort was sub par.</p>
segundowillis,
Monday 2nd January, 2023 9:00PM
Becher New Years
<p>At summit by 2:30pm, lots of folks on the well-trodden ski track. No avalanche signs like shooting cracks or pinwheeling - 20-30cm of 2-3 day old snow seemed well-bonded and stable. </p>
ernie_ski92,
Monday 2nd January, 2023 11:20AM