Dashboard Regions Weather Stations Radar Alerts Glossary
Contact About
Log In

Register for an account and never miss a forecast again!

Register
Regions
Canada
Vancouver Island

East Island

South Coast

Bookmark
Alerts
Email notifications
Forecast Notifications An email every time a forecast is published for this region
Weekly Roundup Every Friday at 6PM you'll get an email with a round up of the weeks' forecasts and observations
Stay informed about East Island
Create a free account to receive email alerts when new forecasts are published for this region, plus weekly roundups of all avalanche activity.
Create Account Sign In
Alp
Tln
Btl
28
29
30
31
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
28
29
30

Russell test report with image edited

Published: May 13th, 2026
Test report with an image edited

Castlecrag & Frink before the big melt

Published: Apr 18th, 2026
Summited Castlecrag then Mt. Frink from the Comox Lake, East Fork Main logging road. Drove to around 900m elevation where we couldn’t drive further on the snow. We were able to ski the logging road most all the way to the cut block below Castlecrag where we began our ascent with only a few bare patches close to where we parked. The logging road skied pretty well and fast on frozen supportive snow in the morning and then slushy and sticky on the ski out. There wasn’t crusty tracks or poking rocks like some of the other logging road skiing we’ve suffered this season. The snowpack above the trees had a hard crust down 5-30cm ( impenetrable to an inverted ski pole plunge) with a fresher snow layer above that. This softened up as the day went on and the freezing level rose. The descent was pretty good up top and became more isothermal, loose wet atop the buried crust as we skied out. As we made our way from Frink, below Castlecrag, toward the treeline, we observed fresh remnants of a natural, small (<0.5) loose wet with a crown near some protruding rocks on a steep concave slope with debris no more than 100m below. Through the steep open patches at the tree line our turns were scraping the loose wet on the crust. The temp at the peak of Frink was +5c at 1pm with an increasing SW wind, a few flakes of snow dropping, and dark rain clouds approaching. We felt a few rain drops as we got to the car and the rain picked up as we drove the logging roads and back to civilization.

Sunburnt Ridge

Published: Apr 9th, 2026
The trick these days is getting to where there is snow. If you can find a way, don't rush there if ski quality is what you are looking for. Clear and cool nights are building a thick crust, making for scrapy, scratchy, icy skiing in the mornings. South-facing slopes get soft by around 10 am, the shaded ones take an hour or two of sun to make them manageable, and one or two more to make it enjoyable corn skiing. Then the golden hour passes, and as the surface snow gets wet, everything gets a little sticky. Coverage on the north aspects is holding on above 1100 m, the south aspects are getting "a little sparse." No new avalanche activity from what we could see, but a bit of old loose wet and some large roller ball debris. The lakes are starting to open up as well.

Boomerang

Published: Apr 6th, 2026
Great slushy laps with some drum like sounds when going up hill

Sun bowl

Published: Apr 5th, 2026
Great slushy laps with some ice patches in some places

Snow conditions on Alexandra Peak

Published: Apr 4th, 2026
30cm+ of powder in the bowl West of Alexandra Peak. By 11:00 AM things warmed significantly.

Crusty Albert Edward winter route

Published: Apr 3rd, 2026
Camped out at Circlet on Thursday and Friday and poked our noses towards Albert Edward (AE) on Good Friday. The seasonal feeze/thaw morning crust was in effect with a 180cm snowpack at Circlet. We ascended the winter route on semi-breakable crust in the am on Friday. Ski pole handle would plunge ~30cm until hitting a solid ice layer. There was a breakable layer ~5cm below recent Wed snow (See pic). This had softened at lower elevation, closer to Circlet later in the day Friday. Onto the ridge between Jutland and AE was a slippery wind crust and we wished we had brought our ski crampons. We didn’t go beyond the ridge due to unfavourable conditions - crust, fog, and a miserable SW wind. AE looked to have a lot of wind loading on the cornice and gully (see pic when a break in fog accommodated a snap). No signs of slides other than some melt pinwheeling and a few rocky spots likely from the Thursday solar. In the afternoon Friday, around Circlet, solar aspects were loose/wet and could be ski cut to slide a bit, as on the way out Saturday along the trail to Helen Mackenzie. Overnight snow on Friday was not sticking in the trees until 100m or so above Circlet where there was a definitive snow line (see pic from circlet up to winter route). We crossed Lake Helen Mackenzie on the ice both ways, along the edge on the way in and across the middle on the way out.

Stormy Strathcona

Published: Apr 1st, 2026
We headed to the Cruickshank/Castlecrag zone today for a quick mid-Island 'core sample' of the storm. Sliding on snow started from 12.5km on the East Fork, ie. bottom of the first switchback. There were a couple short rocky patches on the road being covered up with 2cm per hour snowfall all day. Skinning up in the trees we found about 10 cm of new snow on yesterday's melt freeze crust, which was mostly breakable but somewhat supportive in open areas. It was possible to stomp through it for better purchase instead of slipping and washing out on steeper steps. As we climbed, we got an inkling of a thin storm slab forming with skin track corners sliding on the crust; this increased a bit as we reached treeline. Surprisingly, what seemed like a pretty touchy little storm slab at times didn't really perform in the couple of ski cuts we tried on the way down. We decided against an alpine push due to low visibility, but suspect we would have seen more reactivity up there in the wind. The buried crust was still a bit annoying on the way down, but hey! It's still snowing! 😃

Island Alpine Guides - AST Field Day

Published: Mar 29th, 2026
Great day out on an AST1 Field Day with Nanaimo Search and Rescue. We traveled around the Little Washington area off of Mount Washington. Cold overnight temperatures were preserving 10cm of low density snow on all aspects protected from the sun. Surface hoar to 5mm observed on the surface. The Pineapple melt freeze crust is down about 25cm, and all well-settled snow below that. We found a height of snow at 1400m averaging 200cm. No new avalanches observed. IAG accesses this area under agreements with the land owners and operators.

Dribble Drabble ☔️

Published: Mar 16th, 2026
After being turned around on the Elk main due to active forestry work, we braved the atmospheric river and headed out on sleds toward Mount Drabble. We kept our travel below treeline due to the high avalanche danger and spent the day sharpening our rescue skills. We drove up the Strathcona Parkway and parked at the 9 km pullout before setting out along the road to investigate the rain line. What we found was rain, rain, and some more rain. The ~20 cm of recent snowfall has been completely saturated, soaked through down to the melt-freeze crust. We did not see any loose wet avalanches but suspect a widespread cycle is occurring. Stay dry out there! 🌧️❄️

Boris

Published: Mar 15th, 2026
We started at 8am and our first objective was Mt Cameron. We drove as far as we could and had to even cut through a tree to get access but haven’t reached a snowline. We changed our plans then drove up toward Mt apps. We made it to the snow line and then up tracked on the logging road ( snow was good with almost no visible rocks on the road). It was foggy and the snow really picked up. We stayed at a cabin for lunch. At the top the wind formed some windslabs and pretty cornices. There was a lot of dust on crusts at few points. The skiing at the top was amazing and booming down on a logging road definitely made our legs burn! A good day out.

Big day out, a couple great turns

Published: Mar 14th, 2026
A big day out to Kings! Final some great weather and snow! Travel was slow but well worth it. There was snow at the trailhead (~350m), started skinning at about 850m. The gully right before the meadow was a boot pack for much due to the steep terrain and soft snow sluffing down to a hard crust. We dug a pit at the base of the main gully (no sun ow wind effect, maybe wind loading, 1200m, slope angle ~35°). Top 20cm is soft to a fist, then the next 60cm is soft to 4-fingers, then the older snow is all consolidated (we stopped digging about 30cm into the crust), hard to a finger/knife. With a column test, there was a small pop between the lightest snow and the next layer with 4, hits bending at the elbow. Then a pop between the new snow and the crust with 4 hits bending at the shoulder. Overall we saw the snow compress, no failure, giving us the confidence to continue. The party ahead of us reached a point where there was visible wind effect (1370m). From our understanding, they did a quick column test with gloves that propagated to a 3-4m crown, 20cm deep. That became all of our turn around points. With some quick digging at the spot, there were numerous gaps just below the snow surface. Very fun riding back down into the meadows with some fun and interesting survival skiing below that.

Kings

Published: Mar 14th, 2026
Kings peak main gully - about half way up found a bit of wind slab which propagated across the gully. Varied 20cm-5cm crown. Size 0.5. Skied awesome powder from half way up the gully.

Bluebird on Mt Cameron

Published: Mar 14th, 2026
Mt Cameron tour The road was quite thin and driveable to about 650 m. Gorgeous views great company. The bluebird forecast and the min earlier in the week enticed us to go explore locally rather than further north Skied up Cameron and down to the Cameron and Apps col. Travel was slower than expected so decided not to try up to Apps and return home Ski quality was generally mediocre. Snow conditions were very variable - a few non wind effect spots held nice dry power, it was generally was either wind effected, heavy and wet (south aspect we skied), or a bit of a sun crust. Very little snow below about 1100m. My ski bases aren’t happy about the road especially near the bottom. Would recommend going above 1300m to non solar aspects (north aspects) thats where the good stuff is (was?). Nothing a couple meters of snow wouldn’t cure

IAG - Mount Adrian Heli Access Ski Tour

Published: Mar 14th, 2026
Great day of heli accessed ski touring on Mount Adrian. Mod-strong NW winds from early AM had formed wind slab and wind effect at ridgetop. Anywhere protected provided excellent powder skiing. Breakable suncrust on any solar aspects. A few old storm slab releases observed to size 2. One skier accidental size 1.0 on an immediate lee feature right below ridgeline down 10cm in windslab. Island Alpine Guides accesses this terrain under a commercial use agreement with the landowner.

Brilliant Backside

Published: Mar 14th, 2026
Found some nice turns on the backside of Washington, 15-20cm on crust. Snow stayed cold and dry through early afternoon at higher elevations (above ~900m). Evident wind effect in open areas, with ridges and NW aspects completely scoured. Wind slab also noted on lee slopes (~E). Breezy and fast logging road exit with coverage down to ~750m.

Beaufort Range Conditions

Published: Mar 11th, 2026
Up into the Beauforts for a morning ski. Snowline at about 750m, with 100 or so metres of travel beyond this elevation of light snow on a previously bare road, making for less than ideal (but shortlived) travel. Good coverage beyond that. Dust on crust (approximately 15cm of new snow). Thin snowpack in this area, only 85cm base at 1250m. Expect more up higher, but we played in the mellow treeline due to wind, low visibility and limited time. Intense snowfall between 11am and 1pm produced another 10cm, and was still snowing when we exited. Some sluffing on steep rollovers on the melt freeze crust.

Elk Tracks

Published: Mar 4th, 2026
Headed up to Elk today to recalibrate after a week away and found some reasonable skiing by Island standards. We staged sleds at around km 3.5. Surfaces vary a lot depending on aspect and timing. Isothermal mush in direct sun at treeline and below, mostly supportive crust in the shade (as thin as 1 cm in the alpine), with a few cm of new snow on top at treeline and above, and a bit of everything in between as the sun and shade moved around and the day warmed up. We dug a profile on the highest north aspect we could find and located our surface hoar layer about 60 cm deep in dry snow (40 cm deep in moist snow on solars). It produced hard, resistant compression test results and no extended column test results. Probably will take a good bout of rain to wake it up, but it's there!

Crust at Mt Brooks

Published: Feb 28th, 2026
We planned to hike up Mt Allen Brooks but only made it to the col between Brooks and Elma. Recent warm temperatures had turned the new snow into a widespread melt-freeze crust, which limited travel and we decided to turn around at the col. Traveling uphill was generally easy on a supportive surface, but the breakable crust made descending challenging and inconsistent. Weather was sunny with temperatures above 0°C. No recent avalanche activity was observed. Snowpack was dominated by a melt-freeze crust at all elevations traveled, with strong solar and temperature effects on the recent snow.

Good day in thar hills - Elk Mountain

Published: Feb 28th, 2026
Beautiful sunny day and amazing day for a workout up high. Decent skiing to be had above 1300m - the price to pay is bumping through frozen snow mobile tracks and breakable crust to get there. Bit of soft on top of the crust above 1300m. Did a couple of laps of north glades. Avoided some wind loaded features off of the ridge.

Forbidden Plateau

Published: Feb 27th, 2026
Snowpack was still soft but very heavy and wet

All-time Allan Brooks

Published: Feb 25th, 2026
Lapped Allan Brooks for the whole day as the only group in the area. Excellent conditions on N facing slopes at treeline and below treeline. No signs of instability. Multiple negative hand shears on N aspect. Breakable sun crust on S aspects.

Becher Overnight Tour

Published: Feb 22nd, 2026
Overnight from Sat to Sun. Encountered Whomping on Day 2 in open trees as we skied down the up track.

Island Alpine Guides

Published: Feb 22nd, 2026
Island Alpine Guides AST+ course in the field today. Very dynamic weather conditions with 60cm overnight, and approximately 40cm over the day. Wind, humidity and warmer temps at lower elevations all worked to form a solid 60cm deep slab sitting on previous surfaces. We experienced significant whumphing in all areas traveled today, from 1300-1450m, mostly west and northwest aspects. We also observed multiple recent natural avalanches to size 1.5. The bed surfaces of these avalanches were already being re-loaded by wind and new snow. We dug a test profile (snowpack depth here of 240cm) at 1450m on a northwest-facing ridgeline feature, and observed easy compression test results (sudden collapse) down 60cm in very preserved surface hoar to 25mm in size. Below this surface hoar was a layer of decomposing crusts and facets about 15cm in depth, with a solid snowpack beneath that to ground. This test result, combined with observations of natural avalanches and many significant whumphs over the day kept us out of any avalanche terrain. These conditions are very concerning given the persistent nature of surface hoar, and the depth at which it is buried. Much caution should be given to this interface, as it could be an issue for some time to come. You can't outsmart a deep persistent weak layer! Island Alpine Guides accesses this terrain under agreements with the land owners and operators.

Circlet Lake Route information

Published: Feb 21st, 2026
Weather: -10 to -5 degrees (estimated), snowing very heavily. Strong winds gusting upwards of 40kmh (estimated) On Friday we went up towards circlet lake but ended camping early on the western end of forbidden plateau, with the plan to head towards circlet lake today and then head back tommorow . Friday the snowpack was relatively stable with quite a few rain layers mixed in. And some slush persisting lower in the pack. Overall well blended together. When we woke up approx 50cm of heavy powder had fallen with significant wind shifting creating loaded spots. We decided to call it and head home as with the new snow trail breaking became very difficult so we did not want to wait for more to fall. As we were traversing the plateau we noticed whoomphing and shooting cracks, even in spots that where practically flat(less than 5 degrees in slope). Additionally we could hear large avalanches in the distance throughout the day. Coming down to lake Helen Mackenzie(steepest segment) we stayed in dense trees and the snow held fairly well with only small amounts of sluff coming down(no slab slides). Regarding riding conditions the snow while deep was quite heavy and not very fun to ski on as we kept sinking and getting stuck even on the steeper slope

The PoW Factor

Published: Feb 18th, 2026
Punched into the Prince of Wales Range today on a hunch that lake effect brought more snow here than elsewhere. We were chuffed to be proven correct with 40-50 cm on the January 12 crust. The PoW factor also brought some unexpected test results. We dug test profiles on north and south aspects to get a good read on what seems to be a persistent slab problem, at least locally. Our extended column tests both propagated cleanly on the 15th tap, failing on a thin layer of faceted snow immediately above the crust. A ski cut above our skin track managed to reveal the issue too. (See photo) Given yesterday's benign results at Elk Mountain, we're led to conclude the problem may present itself where sufficient snow (probably more than 30 cm) sits on the crust but even then we think you'd need some terrain factors (steep, thin to thick snowpack, and/or disconnected snowpack) to line up for this layer to release an avalanche. Something to look for before committing to your big line in avalanche terrain!

On the hunt at Elk

Published: Feb 17th, 2026
Elk Mountain seemed like a good mid island spot to start our post-storm investigations. We staged sleds at bit early at around km 1.5 so the sled carbides took many hits in the 10-15 cm on the road. It wasn't until 900 m that we found deeper coverage so you can expect your skis will take some rock hits below this elevation too if you're sliding. Once on solid coverage, we found up to about 30, max 40 cm of snow (since Feb 12) on the crust, with the top 15 cm being very pleasant low density powder. Like VERY pleasant. No significant results in our pit, no obvious signs of avalanches in the storm(s) other than a bit of sluffing from cliffs, and no wind slabs to be found where we traveled. Lots of snow available for transport, so unless a crust forms to lock it down, we'd expect a lively problem to develop the next time we get a big wind.

Solid at tree line

Published: Feb 15th, 2026
AST1 avalanche course with Island Alpine Guides. Onky TL and below observed. "Dust on crust" on Sunday, the new snow will help improve the conditions.

Island Alpine Guides

Published: Feb 14th, 2026
Island Alpine Guides conditions recon today. We searched out north facing lee slopes in order to find the most preserved snowpack. In these features we found a snowpack ranging from 1m at 1150m, to 180cm at 1450m. This is a stark contrast to some solar aspects, areas with thicker tree cover, and below treeline elevations which have limited to no snow cover. We observed 10-15cm of low density snow sitting on a supportive crust. This snow had been moved around at ridgetop, forming windslabs that were up to 50cm thick, and were cracking underfoot. We avoided any big open steep lee features because of this observation. Where the snow was unaffected by wind, it skied quite nicely. Some sluffing observed in steeper features at treeline. Island Alpine Guides accesses the Mount Washington backcountry under agreements with the landowners and operators.

It re-lit our spark to see fresh snow in the park

Published: Jan 28th, 2026
With 30 centimetres of new snow showing at the Cruikshank weather station, we had to go see for ourselves whether it was real or if we were just dreaming. Good news! It’s real! Travel up the east fork main is a little challenging at the moment, patches of intermittent snow are difficult for vehicle travel, but interspersed with large bare patches that make you cringe a little when you scrape across on a snowmobile. We opted to make the swap to sleds around km 6, but people had clearly pushed their vehicles further. We started in the pouring rain, but by 1000 m it had switched to snow. We went up to 1450 m. In open areas there was 40 cm of new snow, in the dense forest it is still a bit brushy and lacking coverage. We can confirm that as expected from the weather station data, the storm started as rain which has helped solidify a strong bond between the new snow and the old crust. Challenging skiing for hazards and heavy snow, but we couldn’t be happier.

Castlecrag

Published: Jan 25th, 2026
Went up to Castlecrag Mountain via Cruikshank Canyon. Drove to ~550m via East Fork Main before reaching impassable snow. Bulletproof crust on all aspects made steep skinning and riding challenging. Summit is shown in first photo with Mt. Frink and Mt. Albert Edward.

Mt Washington backcountry

Published: Jan 25th, 2026
Island Alpine Guides AST1 field day in the Mt Washington backcountry in terrain North of the Sunrise chair. The crust doth persist. IAG operates at Mt Washington and on adjacent private lands under agreements with the land owners.

Comox glacier

Published: Jan 24th, 2026
Snow on road starts at South fork at 200m elevation. We were able to drive to within 3 km of the glacier trailhead. Hard snow up to the ridge. About 3 inch boot penetration on ridge. Punching through suncrust, to about 6 inches of dryer lighter snow. Freezes over night. The snow looked like May spring melt.

Alexandra Tweak

Published: Jan 15th, 2026
A mountain as cool as Alexandra needs a couple ways to access it. Today we made the Oyster Main route work on our first attempt. It's not too bad! ..but the snow.. oh the snow. Just horrendous. We were greeted by bulletproof crust on arrival, worst in open areas. In spots you could push a shovel blade in, we measured it at 10-15 cm thick. In the trees it was soft enough that you could stomp skis into the pine needles and chickenheads 🐔 to gain a bit of purchase. This improved a tiny bit over the few hours of our visit. No chance of wet loose activity on our mostly shaded route, but we did cross the frozen debris of an old size 2.5 avalanche. Look forward to revisiting in friendlier snow!

Island Alpine Guides

Published: Jan 14th, 2026
Island Alpine Guides ran an AST course field day at Mt Washington today. Temperatures experienced between 3 and 6 degrees, a combination of sun and cloud and very little wind between 1100 and 1570 m. The snowpack had a non-supportive crust with less dense, moist snow underneath and a boot pen of 30cm. Island Alpine Guides conducts courses in this area with land use agreements in place for both Mt Washington Alpine Resort and Mosaic Forest Management.

Mt Washington Resort summit/ East boundary terrain and recent avalanche viewing.

Published: Jan 12th, 2026
Widespread natural avalanche activity overnight on the 11th left debris in many places generally initiating from slopes over 45 degrees on many aspects up to size 2 plus. Some fractured lines were visible. The loose wet cycle appears to be complete at tree line and below. Island Alpine Guides inc. operates on Mount Washington and surrounding area with land used agreements with Mosaic and Mount Washington Alpine resort.

Island Alpine Guides

Published: Jan 11th, 2026
Multiple AST courses were run in the west ridge area of Mt Washington today. We experienced a combination of wet snow and rain throughout the day from 1100-1500 M with higher winds and temperatures between 0 and 3 degrees. The following observations were noted by 3 separate groups in the area. -multiple size 1 loose, wet and pinwheeling between 1400-1500 M on S and W aspects that appeared to be both natural and human triggered. -trees were shedding approx 90%of their snow below 1500 M. -top 20cm or so moist with dry previous HST below that. Hard planar shears within the dry snow and at an ice crust lower in the pack, 1450 M, E aspect. -CT beside Boomerang top station, s-facing, CTE(6) SP down 10cm on a storm interface.

Elma Brooks Ski Tour

Published: Jan 10th, 2026
Surprisingly great day out for a ski tour up the Elma over to Brooks and down. The storm largely held off and we got ~10cm of snow and fog then the sun even came out! Meagre thing conditions in the forest below 1250m. Snow depth was 145cm on the top of Elma. About 45cm over top of the rain crust Ski quality off W Elma to Col was surprisingly enjoyable. Stuck to treed low angle slopes. Ski cut a low consequence drop feature on Allan Brooks and triggered a minor slide. With this information the longer and steeper slope near the cliffs coming out of the Col was avoided and stuck to mature forest. ~1250m 15cm ski pen above the crust, ~ 1300m was wet and touch crusty with 45-50cm above raincrust, above 1350/1400m the snow was relatively light and made for some fun turns

Alexandra Sneak

Published: Jan 9th, 2026
Those who go, know, that access to Alexandra can be very fickle. We managed to push up to treeline today, but not without a fight! We staged sleds at about 0.5km but the little snow there will soon be washed away. The Park Main is now deactivated (sorry, trucks) and we bashed across dozens of deep snow/creek ditches to make it to the Alex/Adrian col. About 10 needed shoveling work to cross. (We're tired now) Light rain was falling at the col, which gave way to snowfall as we reached about 1400 m. At treeline, we saw light to moderate wind transport, seemingly limited to the last couple days accumulation. We skipped the wind-battered alpine. Our profile yielded moderate, resistant shears on varying vintages of wind slab in the top 50 cm (green in photo) and we had no results on the 80 cm-deep Jan 4 crust (blue in photo). Big difference from yesterday! Tough, moist, sticky travel below 1500 m on the way down, we only saw pinwheels but you could probably have triggered some heavy sluff in the wrong terrain.

Mt. Allan Brooks

Published: Jan 8th, 2026
Went out for a day of training which surprised us with great turns. Snow depth is still quite shallow in the trees as we were hitting a rain crust for 3/4 of the way to the summit. But the top was really good! We saw zero signs of avalanche and even tested some north facing steep features with zero movement. We did companion rescue review around 1100m and there wasn't enough snow to bury transceivers more then .7m deep We dug a quick pit on a north aspect at 1395m for training purpose. We had a height of 170cm, the top 40 cm were fresh snow sitting on a rain crust. Below that crust was a good bit of consolidated snow about 1 finger firm sitting on (what i assume) is early season crusts about 114cm down. Above 1395m a couple quick hand shear tests had the 40cm of freshy stuff slide with resistance. Was worth the day out!

Dust on Crust and Sunshine

Published: Jan 4th, 2026
Island Alpine Guides had avalanche course groups in the field today. Sunny skies, good visibility, light ridgetop winds, near zero temperatures, and approximately 5 cm - 15 cm of light new powder on this week’s rain crust. New snow was observed to be deepest in lee deposits near ridgetop. Sun warmed snow became moist and heavy in the afternoon. Island Alpine Guides accesses the Mount Washington backcountry under agreements with the landowners and operators.

Mediocre, mashed, moist and misty

Published: Jan 2nd, 2026
We climbed the ‘central knoll’ of Elk Mountain today. Instead of our usual approach from the North we tried something different and ascended via the “Elk sled zone” (SW aspect). The MIN title says it all - it was variable. Firm old surface wind slab above 1600 m, crusty at treeline, and mashed potatoes below treeline. The day was foggy, we did not get above the valley cloud at 1700 m. Temperatures were above 0°. Looks like more precipitation is in the forecast for the weekend, bring it on we need it!

Becher

Published: Dec 31st, 2025
A warm beautiful day up Becher. Snow felt like icing sugar at the top, great skiing for early season. Coverage was surprisingly good, didn't hit one rock ! Some navigating on the way down to maintain the plateau meant side cutting off a uber steep rock band that was holding snow likes it's life depended on it. The only avalanche sign we saw was some size .5 to 1 wet loose on sun exposed steep slopes on the way up.

Big Tree nice ski

Published: Dec 31st, 2025
We ventured up toward Big Tree Peak today, a bit of an access assessment and baseline snowpack observations. Snowpack height here is similar to other parts of the Island, with 85 cm of well-settled storm snow sitting on our wet basal layer at treeline. The surface had become moist down 5 cm from daytime warming, but a rain squall as we loaded up to go home spells out a wet/crusty future for the surface tomorrow. We were able to push out More Eatery sized cinnamon bun pinwheels on steeper slopes, nothing that would entrain additional snow. Could the light rain have taken it up a notch? We're a bit doubtful. As for access, the Venus Main all the way up Bigtree creek seems like the best bet to avoid wind effect on the roads (which isn't too bad yet) one drainage east. Both roads now extend farther that satellite imagery suggests.

Helen Mackenzie

Published: Dec 28th, 2025
Out for a walk and some companion rescue practice. We observed about 80cm snow depth on average, around 1100m. Still low tide, especially in the trees, but snow is fairly low density, easy for shovelling! No significant signs of instability, but then we never made it out of the trees.

Mt Washington Backcountry

Published: Dec 28th, 2025
Island Alpine Guides had AST 1 groups out in the Mt Washington backcountry today. The recent storm snow has been settling out with the last couple days' cool and dry conditions. We observed an average of 120-140cm snowpack depth on the ridgetop at 1450m. Some isolated hard shears observed down 35cm. Mostly low density soft slab above that interface, with some isolated pockets of wind slab in exposed treeline locations. No significant signs of instability observed today. Early season conditions prevail in most locations visited today, but nice to see a more settled early season snowpack, setting us up well for more storms in the New Year!

Mount Apps

Published: Dec 28th, 2025
Good ski tour today near Mt Apps. Parked at 500m. Skin track was great from a few days prior but disappeared due to wind affect at 1200m. No avalanche activity seen and we couldn’t reproduce any significant reactivity.

Mt Naps

Published: Dec 26th, 2025
Drove to 450m where the snow became too deep to drive. Skinning was lovely but hard work track setting with 20-30cm ski penetration. Decided to call it after eating lunch at 1300m. Winds picked up and we noticed the light snow being transported to east facing slopes. Skiing down early season hazards were still prevalent and small slab slides were easily triggered on convex slopes.

Elk Mtn

Published: Dec 23rd, 2025
Lovely first day out of the season. We started skiing from the hwy. The trail breaking was generally knee deep so it was slower going. Ridge top skiing was really good deep dry pow!! If you slowed down you were going to wallow/swim your way down the slopes… lol!! We had/saw no signs of avy activities. We skied off the top of Peak 5205 over a convex north facing roll. With this being the real start to the islands base things were bottom less, tree wells very present and thoughtful skiing feel important while navigating dense trees and clearcuts. Overall great time out!

Boggy Beadnell

Published: Dec 23rd, 2025
Another day of tough access conditions in the Beadnell/Adrian zone today. We punched a trail up the Eden Main and into the bogs, but found the base too lacking for practical travel beyond. There is essentially 100 cm of storm snow sitting on bare ground, or water. Early season hazards are very real right now and the cutblocks are terrifying to travel through. We caught a glimpse of alpine terrain through breaks in the cloud, but with 40 cm in the last 24 hours, it wasn't a surprise that no avalanche crowns were visible. We spied what looked to be buried debris from a size 2 avalanche in the upper Beadnell Bowl. Our high point of 1250 m didn't impart much about alpine conditions, but we did notice one of our recent storm interfaces still producing clean but stubborn shears down about 50 cm. We didn't see any wind transport from the peaks. Shout out to the Parksville crew! Teamwork makes the dream work. 💪
Spring Conditions
Spring Conditions
Spring Conditions

Avalanche Forecast

Published: Apr 27th, 2026
Current
Low
Low
Low

Avalanche Forecast

Published: Apr 24th, 2026
Archived
Low
Low
Low

Avalanche Forecast

Published: Apr 23rd, 2026
Archived
Low
Low
Low

Avalanche Forecast

Published: Apr 22nd, 2026
Archived
Low
Low
Low

Avalanche Forecast

Published: Apr 21st, 2026
Archived
Moderate
Moderate
Low

Avalanche Forecast

Published: Apr 20th, 2026
Archived
Moderate
Moderate
Low

Avalanche Forecast

Published: Apr 19th, 2026
Archived
Moderate
Moderate
Low

Avalanche Forecast

Published: Apr 18th, 2026
Archived
Low
Low
Low

Avalanche Forecast

Published: Apr 17th, 2026
Archived
Moderate
Low
Low

Avalanche Forecast

Published: Apr 16th, 2026
Archived
Moderate
Low
Low

Avalanche Forecast

Published: Apr 15th, 2026
Archived
Considerable
Moderate
Low

Avalanche Forecast

Published: Apr 14th, 2026
Archived
High
Considerable
Moderate

Avalanche Forecast

Published: Apr 13th, 2026
Archived
Low
Low
Low

Avalanche Forecast

Published: Apr 12th, 2026
Archived
Low
Low
Low

Avalanche Forecast

Published: Apr 11th, 2026
Archived
Low
Low
Low

Avalanche Forecast

Published: Apr 10th, 2026
Archived
Low
Low
Low

Avalanche Forecast

Published: Apr 9th, 2026
Archived
Low
Low
Low

Avalanche Forecast

Published: Apr 8th, 2026
Archived
Low
Low
Low

Avalanche Forecast

Published: Apr 7th, 2026
Archived
Low
Low
Low

Avalanche Forecast

Published: Apr 6th, 2026
Archived
Moderate
Low
Low

Avalanche Forecast

Published: Apr 5th, 2026
Archived
Moderate
Moderate
Low

Avalanche Forecast

Published: Apr 4th, 2026
Archived
Low
Low
Low

Avalanche Forecast

Published: Apr 3rd, 2026
Archived
Low
Low
Low

Avalanche Forecast

Published: Apr 2nd, 2026
Archived
Moderate
Moderate
Low

Avalanche Forecast

Published: Apr 1st, 2026
Archived
Moderate
Moderate
Low

Avalanche Forecast

Published: Mar 31st, 2026
Archived
Low
Low
Low

Avalanche Forecast

Published: Mar 30th, 2026
Archived
Moderate
Low
Low

Avalanche Forecast

Published: Mar 29th, 2026
Archived
Moderate
Moderate
Low

Avalanche Forecast

Published: Mar 28th, 2026
Archived
Moderate
Moderate
Low

Avalanche Forecast

Published: Mar 27th, 2026
Archived
No weather stations associated with this region.