East Side 93N
Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Storm Slabs, Loose Dry.
Published: Mar 29th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Storm Slabs.
Published: Mar 28th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Storm Slabs.
Published: Mar 28th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Storm Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Mar 27th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Storm Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Mar 26th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 25th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 24th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 24th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Storm Slabs.
Published: Mar 23rd, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Storm Slabs.
Published: Mar 23rd, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 22nd, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 21st, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 21st, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 20th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 20th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Mar 19th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Mar 18th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 17th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 17th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Storm Slabs.
Published: Mar 16th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Storm Slabs.
Published: Mar 16th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Storm Slabs.
Published: Mar 15th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Storm Slabs.
Published: Mar 14th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Storm Slabs.
Published: Mar 14th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Storm Slabs.
Published: Mar 13th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 12th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 11th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 11th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Persistent Slabs, Loose Dry.
Published: Mar 10th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Persistent Slabs, Loose Dry.
Published: Mar 10th, 2025Crystal ridge roadside
Sluffing was evident during the ski down, sharks were still out and about on steeper slopes and lee areas affected by wind.
Looking across the road above crowfoot would see sluff/ dry snow coming down the cliffs about once an hour during the day
matthew,
Monday 8th January, 2024 3:40PM
Puzzle ramp
Found wind affected snow on the approach, however conditions got better with elevation. Still fairly thin in some spots, narrowly missing a few buried rocks on the way down
kipfertaylor,
Monday 8th January, 2024 11:10AM
Observation Peak observations
Kept expectations low today, but got pleasantly surprised with some ankle deep supportive turns in the sub-alpine. Stayed away from wind slabs and stuck to low angle slopes. Exit through dense trees low down was doable thanks to supportive layers under foot. Overcast throughout the day with light flurries, temps between -7 and -2. Surface snow stayed dry.
jsweaterfuzz,
Thursday 4th January, 2024 7:00PM
Murchison: stable up to facets at 2800m
Attempted to guide the scramble route on Murchison yesterday. We found mid boot facets through the forest with easy walking, to wind hammered slopes on west aspect up the initial bowl to 2500m. At the top of the west bowl , about to gain the shoulder, windloading had us pitching out a few ropelengths but no instabilities were encountered. Upon turning to the south facing upper slopes we found facets to ground, waist deep, and decided to descend, with beautiful views on a clear day.
Overall no instabilities of any kind were encountered. Winds were strong from the south east, the forecast north winds did not materialize.
iwelsted,
Tuesday 2nd January, 2024 9:30AM
Puzzle peak
Went up to puzzle peak. Beautiful sunny day with great views. Pretty warm in the sun, high of -1. No new avalanches in the area. Some older wind slabs on the upper slopes of Dolomite shoulder in thin loaded terrain. Skiing was not great but we went up to the ridge of puzzle and got some nice views. Also dug a pit and found a surprisingly supportive snowpack for the thin rocky terrain I dug in. See last photos for details. CTM 19 on basal facets. A couple parties skiing dolomite traverse and one other group on puzzle. Area needs more snow and there’s not much good skiing left to be had.
bensoneff,
Saturday 30th December, 2023 5:30PM
Observation peak
Stew Mclean,
Saturday 30th December, 2023 5:30PM
Helen Shoulder Remote
skiah,
Wednesday 27th December, 2023 4:40PM
Bow Summit plot
Parks Canada Visitor Safety,
Wednesday 27th December, 2023 12:40PM
Crystal Ridge
Skiing BTL is pretty good where you can find open areas to ski. Once you hit around 2000-2200 m is where things get pretty shitty. Big settlements and shooting cracks that would propagate up to 10m in unsupported areas. Crust not supportive up to 2200m can’t speak to anything above that because we didn’t go any higher. 50-70cms HS with the bottom 10-20cm mostly facets. Great spot for a walk right now but the skiing there is dense pow on top of unsupportive crust and then facets with many sharks still lurking. I think the best way to sum up the actual skiing is it’s a nice walk but if you were to take your significant other there for one of their first tours they might be questioning why you enjoy backcountry skiing so much. Don’t follow our skin track we wandered around a lot and there are much quicker ways to access the skiing areas.
Hamish McPhail,
Saturday 23rd December, 2023 7:30PM
Hector
We stayed on mellow slopes on the lee aspect. We noticed a lot of whumpfing. Winds were not as strong as forecasted but ridges were completely wind stripped.
Nick,
Thursday 21st December, 2023 6:50PM
A Little Lost in Little Italy
Skiied Dolomite Traverse today. Cloudy with broken periods, S -1 for the majority of the day. Travel below treeline is heinous at best, much to be said for expert alder smashing skills. HS was 40-60 throughout the day, many sharks and thin to thick sections in the area. We attempted to branch out in the alpine, but were met with large settlements and dramatic whumpfs, so we quickly returned to more cross-country methodology. Alder-bashing takes time, and we realized our ambition for a late start on the (2nd) shortest day of the year was mistaken, as nighttime alder-bashing is only MORE fun.
Dug a hasty pit at the top of the col, in a bit of a wind-loaded pocket.
CTE 3 down 40 - failed on facet interface on top of 15 cm thick K crust
CTH 22 down 55 on facet interface
Repeat produced CTE 2 down 40 on facet interface
Air Temp was -3.5C
IanMach10,
Wednesday 20th December, 2023 10:00PM
Helen Shoulder
There was no rain crust from trailhead to treeline. Between 50 to 65 cms of snow. In open glades treeline there was 1 cm sun-crust. On the ridge line by the burn there was definite wind crust and whumping.
fabrique,
Monday 18th December, 2023 7:20PM
dolomite traverse pleasant surprise
late start paired with no real objective for the day led to us settling on dolomite traverse since the day was beautiful, got up to a ridge near lake katherine and saw another group skiing a mellow but fun looking slope and decided to do some laps there instead. slopes skied were on NE aspects and stayed mellow. on our approach and egress, which was SW facing, several instances of whoompfing in small isolated pockets of deeper snow at and above treeline despite a generally shallow snowpack on that aspect. no recent avalanches observed.
Darian Spagrud,
Sunday 17th December, 2023 8:30PM
Oxo/Puzzle - threading the needle
Better than expected skiing, but had to be very selective on the line choice and ski the zones you’d probably want to avoid if it was any steeper. Main line was a mix of windslab to creamy turns. Snowpack ranged anywhere from 10 cm to 110 cm on the main slope, but avoided the vast majority of sharks. Snow pack was generally garbage at the bottom with what looked like depth hoar or buried surface hoar over facets, at about 2500m.
One size 2 slide off of lookers left cliff to the left of Oxo/Puzzle that looked pretty new.
Couple whumpfs in low angle zones, wouldn’t trust anything too steep. Access and egress was surprisingly good.
bdpiche,
Sunday 17th December, 2023 6:30PM
Hector South
Went up to the Hector S area today. Ski quality was pretty good, some wind effect at tree line but still reasonable skiing. 15cm average ski pen. Lots of Whumpfing especially up higher in rocky areas. Saw 2 Sz 1 windslabs in immediate lees but nothing else as far as avalanches in the area. That being said things definitely felt touchy and we kept to mellow slopes around 30 degrees or less and skied lines with lots of safe spots. Skiing out the draw was reasonable ish.
bensoneff,
Sunday 17th December, 2023 3:50PM
Noseeum Creek
Light, low density precip throughout the day. Thin, early season snowpack. Lower snowpack dominated by depth hoar. Mid-pack combination of facets and crusts. Upper snowpack consisted of unconsolidated storm snow, not developing slab properties. Wind slabs developing in cross loaded lee areas. No whoomphing but localized collapsing and hollow feeling in loaded pockets.
rachelmorgan.yd,
Thursday 14th December, 2023 9:40PM
Hector South
Good skiing at the higher elevations in the trees off of Hector south. Lower sections (below 2200 meters) had a noticeable rain crust and limited snow coverage. Higher elevations had better coverage and good snow quality. No obvious signs of instability.
dzioba,
Wednesday 13th December, 2023 5:00PM
Dolomite Shoulder Test Profile
Beautiful day to be out on skis but still very early season conditions even with recent snowfall. The mountains look pretty well covered from the road as winds haven't blown the recent snow away yet, but the snowpack is mostly unsupportive and there are still many hazards at or below the surface... Be wary and don't ruin your season by charging too hard in this thin snowpack!
Parks Canada Visitor Safety,
Tuesday 12th December, 2023 3:20PM
Bow Summit plot
Parks Canada Visitor Safety,
Monday 11th December, 2023 1:50PM
mosquito creek area
Poked around the mosquito creek area and it's still early season out there. The snowpack was 60-100 cm at tree line, 3/4 of which was unconsolidated (in non-exposed) storm snow overlaying a facet layer. There was some slab development with a few shooting cracks in more exposed areas at treeline.
The snowpack wasn't supportive at all, which made for tough travel and a few shark bites. It would have been unreal skiing if there was a supportive base for the storm snow.
powpow,
Saturday 9th December, 2023 9:40PM
Noseeum avalanche
nickkeenan,
Friday 8th December, 2023 1:30PM
Dolomite Traverse - Core Shots Included
We turned around mid-way, due to gear issues so we did not complete the full traverse. The snow may be better on the North East side of Dolomite.
On the up track, the snow is dry and sugary, and it does not provide any sort of base.
About 30 cm of snow, but that is just enough to hide the rocks and roots, not enough to keep you from hitting them. Everyone in our group needs a new tune after the first ski of the season.
Needs more time, more moisture, and more snow.
sam.r.mason,
Monday 4th December, 2023 6:40AM
Balfour Wall - Mount Murchison
In our team’s opinion, was not worth the hike in to try crag at Balfour. It seems the warmer temps and sun the past week caused newly forming climbs (or not yet formed climbs) at the wall there to either partially or completely fall down or to just be so delaminated or not structurally sound that it was not even worth climbing them on top rope (let alone leading them). We also saw while we were there pretty much every climb lob a big chunk off from lack of structural integrity and the warm temps and/or sun.
david.l.lapidus,
Wednesday 29th November, 2023 9:38PM
Observation side
This zone needs more snow. Good for walking only. Travelling through the forest with -30cm and lots of deadfall was challenging both up and down. Open areas exposed to sun were sun crusted. breakable but not skiable. 1-2cm west facing and over 5cm south west facing. A lot of whumphing. We skied a north aspect of a gully where snow seemed ok but were hitting ground on most turns. 2300m: in shade with no solar crust, 20cm right side up over 10cm facets on ground. 2400m: pockets of drifted 50+cm snow that was dense on top over a deeper (15+cm) faceted layer on ground. But also many thin sections and on balance snow was 30cm deep with a breakable sun crust. Skins stayed on most of the day. Many rocks poking through on the way to the avy path exit. Recent avalanches observed on steep alpine features.
jimn,
Wednesday 29th November, 2023 9:37PM
Murchison Falls
No snow shoes needed for the approach, a bit icy in places but well trodden and straightforward. Snow seemed consolidated on the approach with no concern of avalanche. Ice was fat and mostly good. Quite brittle on the 2nd pitch, we went a bit far left and had to traverse right to get to the cave belay. Pretty cruddy ice on most of that but enough good ice for screws. Money pitch was fantastic, dry and good quality. Sadly we bailed off from the top of that pitch as the sun was hitting the big hanging daggers and we had Maria’s close call from a few weeks ago in mind. Think you could see the big gap that block left
edwards_14,
Wednesday 29th November, 2023 9:37PM
Continuum/Murchison, very little snow
We could have guessed we didn't need to take avy gear to the Murchison bowl from the lack of snow on the approach trail, bare sections down low and easily below threshold in the bowl. Loose rock on Continuum and the reforming pillar on climbers' left of Murchison are definitely greater hazards than the snow at the moment.
iwelsted,
Wednesday 29th November, 2023 9:36PM
It is not spring yet
Mark Klassen,
Sunday 23rd April, 2023 8:15AM
Hector
<p>Made our way up (most) of Hector. Quite a few open holes. Probed anywhere from 150cm to 300cm on lower glacier. On upper slopes it got very thin with 50cm and ice. Cloud sitting over top 100m kept us from going all the way up. Didn’t ski far off our skin track.</p>
hurleyldave,
Sunday 16th April, 2023 7:10AM
Dolomite Shoulder
<p>Tried to ski Dolomite shoulder and found terrible conditions. Hard and breakable crust overlaying unsupportive snow. Dug a pit to check out the snowpack and found only 60-65cm of snow total before rock. Column failed in CT 13 on the basal facets. The SE face of the shoulder looks to have slid in the last few days.
Skiing down was terrible, but got a bit better when the snow softened slightly in the lower trees. </p>
tyson.bell29,
Saturday 15th April, 2023 1:50PM
Helen shoulder glades
<p>Good day setting the highway up around the Helen glades area after a foot of snow buried it. Go make use of it kids! There’s enough snow to just barely hit the sun crust underneath so riding quality was pretty good for a S aspect around this time of year. Some drumming noted on the up track. Rode a couple supported steep sections in the glades, no signs of instability there. The new snow was fast and light above 2100m; travel below that elevation was not fun, punching through a melt-freeze crust about 45cm every step. Great area to check out during this time of instability.</p>
Lucs.lines,
Tuesday 11th April, 2023 3:20PM
Observation Sub Peak Roadside Glades
<p>Interesting day at Observation sub peak glades. Snow line at ~2000m by 8am. <5cm new snow variably distributed by wind, leaving some aspects stripped to last week's sun crust, and others nicely sifted for enjoyable skiing. After a break in the weather from ~9am-noon, significant snowfall resumed for the duration of the day. Observed several avalanches on the slopes above, all from previous days. Most notably was a deep crown ~2/3 down one of the chutes which appeared to have toe trigged a downhill slope as it passed by. Observed some whumpfs from the top crust while skinning; did not appear to propagate deeper, or far. Stuck to low angle terrain throughout the day.</p>
BubblegumOutlaw,
Monday 10th April, 2023 9:00PM
Fresh avi debris on Dolomite Circuit
<p>Lots of avalanche debris on Dolomite Circuit today. On approach to Helen Lake two big avalanches have run across the path (old- 1+ ft of fresh snow on top). On the ski-out, passing the big slopes on right on descent from Dolomite pass, everything had slid (see pics). It looked quite recent. First 2/3 of the exposed descent gully was all fresh debris (tough skiing). Last 1/3 of the gully the slopes above haven't slid yet.</p>
lisa_leej,
Sunday 9th April, 2023 8:10PM
OXO Puzzle Peak
<p>Got a bit of everything on OXO today, mostly overcast and flurries with strong wind gusts at ridgetop. Alpine skiied surprisingly well, 5cm wind pressed snow over a generally supportive sun crust. Stuck to mellow slopes and were cautious of convex rolls given the snowpack
Dug a quick pit at 2600m, HS 120cm, 5cm fresh snow on top of a series of alternating crust and facet layers that seemed to behave as a consolidated layey, then 90cm of facets (surprise surprise). CTE10 sudden collapse on the facetted layer. No other signs of instability in our travels today.
Saw evidence of a recent (~24-48hr) sz 1.5 off the headwall to lookers left, appeared to be triggered by cornice failure and stepped down to the PWL.</p>
wseah,
Saturday 8th April, 2023 6:10PM
Remote Trigger Size 2.5-3 Mosquito Mountain
ian13matthews,
Tuesday 4th April, 2023 10:00PM
Dolomite Avalanche
Parks Canada Visitor Safety,
Monday 27th March, 2023 3:00PM
Observation glades test pit
Parks Canada Visitor Safety,
Monday 27th March, 2023 2:30PM
Bow Summit Plot
Parks Canada Visitor Safety,
Monday 27th March, 2023 2:20PM
Mount Hector
<p>I have been up Hector 5 times to the summit and often poke my head in this time of year. This is the worst condition I have seen the route in at this time of year from a strict skiing perspective. Because I mostly just like skiing we didn’t tackle the very upper head wall to the Col or the true summit because the upper head wall had about 80 meters of exposed ice. There are way more holes than previous years. I’m not saying a summit doesn’t go you just need to prepare for a more “mountaineering,”’ day than just skiing. </p>
Kylee Toth,
Sunday 26th March, 2023 3:20PM
Observation peak
<p>Recent 2.5 deep persistent slab on Observation Peak, with sympathetic 1.5 slab triggered lower down lookers left. </p>
AlexM,
Tuesday 21st March, 2023 8:00PM
Dolomite Circuit
<p>Completed Dolomite Circuit. TL and above we experienced significant whumpfs, and spent most of the day with an inclinometer in hand. Observed few older loose dry releases on steep alpine terrain, and numerous slab avalanches most of which appeared to fail on the recent storm layer, some of which stepped down to the DPL, all of which appeared to be from the last few days. Sun was packing a punch. </p>
Zarch,
Thursday 16th March, 2023 8:50AM
Natural size 3 avalanche on Watermelon Ridge
Parks Canada Visitor Safety,
Tuesday 14th March, 2023 2:40PM
Bow Summit snow profile
Parks Canada Visitor Safety,
Monday 13th March, 2023 4:30PM
Observed incident on Dolomite Circuity
<p>See incident</p>
saul.greenberg,
Wednesday 8th March, 2023 3:50PM
Helen Shoulder/Lake Tour
<p>Went up and around Helen Shoulder and out towards Helen Lake before exiting via Helen Creek. Surface snow skied well once warmed by the sun. The exit/creek feels more like late April than early March due to low snow depths. Saw plenty of signs of older avalanches in the area and got to watch a good sized one drop down Crowfoot Glacier.</p>
Marcus Baranow,
Tuesday 7th March, 2023 6:10PM
Dolomite circuit
<p>First of many parties that did the dolomite circuit today. There was a recent track and even off of it wind effect made travel fairly quick and easy. There's an absolute highway in now. We had a significant whumpf on a small unsupported slope today and so continued to avoid slopes of consequence while we enjoying a mostly clear, often sunny, but some times bitterly cold day. </p>
getonboards,
Saturday 4th March, 2023 5:30PM
Oxo/Puzzle
<p>Great day skiing at Oxo today. Of note there were multiple parties leading to 14 people skiing the slope today. Still room for fresh there. Ski quality was good in Alp but still some rock sharks out there. Boot top powder overlies the previous surfaces mentioned in the bulletin. No signs of avalanches, no whumphing or cracking except near ridgetop.</p>
OSofer,
Tuesday 28th February, 2023 9:30PM
Bow Lake / Bow Summit Area Ski Conditions
Jordy Shepherd,
Monday 27th February, 2023 11:00PM
Bow Summit snow profile
Parks Canada Visitor Safety,
Thursday 23rd February, 2023 3:50PM
Rockies Snowpack Conditions
Patrick Jerome,
Friday 17th February, 2023 9:00AM
Highway 93 N Avalanche Control Results
Parks Canada Visitor Safety,
Wednesday 15th February, 2023 2:50PM