Flathead
Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Loose Wet, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 28th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs, Cornices, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 27th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Cornices, Persistent Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Mar 26th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Cornices, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 25th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Loose Wet, Storm Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 24th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Mar 23rd, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Mar 23rd, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs.
Published: Mar 22nd, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Mar 21st, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 20th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 19th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Persistent Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Mar 18th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Persistent Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Mar 17th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 16th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 16th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 15th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 15th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 14th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 13th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 12th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Storm Slabs.
Published: Mar 11th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 11th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 10th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 9th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 9th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Mar 8th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Mar 7th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs, Persistent Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Mar 6th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Storm Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Mar 5th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Storm Slabs.
Published: Mar 4th, 2025Powder riding in April! Doesn't get much better
<p>It is April right?!?! We keep pinching ourselves because the riding is really good right now! We saw no signs of instability, apart from a few pinwheels from low elevation sunny spots. A few size 1 dry loose avalanches when the sun first came out, but no slabs. 25 cm of snow in this area since Tuesday over a supportive rain crust from last week. We skied steep north facing slopes away from the sun at treeline and had great riding. Slopes in the sun were getting quite heavy. </p>
southrockies,
Thursday 20th April, 2023 4:20PM
3 cm doesn’t make it winter :-(
<p>Today at Harvey Pass we found 3 cm of new snow at 1700 m covering a mostly supportive refrozen crust. Clouds cleared around noon and solar slopes likely saw enough sun to form a fresh crust. We suspect high north slopes would still hold dry, preserved snow and good skiing however you may have start getting pretty high to find it (above 2000 m). We saw no new avalanche activity today.
Lodgepole was passable but getting pretty mucky in a few spots. Feels like spring!</p>
southrockies,
Friday 14th April, 2023 2:30PM
Loop Ridge
<p>Skied up Loop Ridge today. +2 at the car in the AM, +10 on return. Enough snow for continuous skinning on the roads, but melting fast. Some significant whumphing with long (100m+) shooting cracks on a wind-loaded road cut, but no terrain steep enough to slide. On descent the already marginal freeze was greatly decimated despite the cloudy day. Some isothermal sections, but overall adequate for quick descent of the road. </p>
Steven Noël,
Friday 7th April, 2023 4:10PM
Winter in Harvey!
<p>Today in the Harvey area it was still a bit like winter! There was 15 to 20 cm of soft snow on north-facing slopes with a northeast wind moving snow around at upper elevations. There were some small wind slabs forming directly lee of ridge crests. Temperatures were cool -7 °C at 2200 m, with flurries accumulating a couple of centimeters of new snow throughout our day. The total snowpack depth was 220 cm. We investigated a layer that we could feel with our probe down 80 cm and dug to find a facet layer that we suspect is from Mid-January. We saw no new avalanches and had great turns on steep, sheltered north-facing terrain.</p>
southrockies,
Monday 3rd April, 2023 3:50PM
Great views in Corbin
<p>Morning ☀️with some afternoon ⛅️ in the Corbin area keep south facing slopes from softening up. We had good skiing with 10 to 15 cm soft snow in sheltered north facing slopes. There were no new avalanches today and very little recent activity. Winds are forecasted to increase but there is little to no snow available for transport.
Temperatures remained around -1 while we were in the field winds were light from the southwest </p>
southrockies,
Thursday 30th March, 2023 2:10PM
Leach Layers
<p>THURSDAY 23rd. Skinned up Leach Ridge from the powerline, thinking to ski a line or two in the shady north bowl. Sun-crust on solar aspects, wind crust on the ridges and high points. Dug a hasty pit near the ridgeline in a sheltered area …. two weak layers failed in an extended column test: ECTN 27 down 25 cm; ECTP 27 down 70 cm. The 25 cm layer also failed in a primitive ‘burp’ test. Modified the plan and skied the (still dry) NW low angle slope back into Coal Creek Pass. Fast and consistent binding-top pow. Calm wind. Beautiful sunshine. Schweeeeet !</p>
duncan,
Friday 24th March, 2023 4:20PM
Hot in Harvey
<p>Beautiful sunny day up at harvey. No wind at all. This had us avoiding sunny slopes and skiing the shaded areas which had great dry snow as well as reduced avalanche danger today.
Cornices are big in the area and their backs were in full sun, so we modified our typical turn around point to a bit lower and further into the trees to give us a margin of safety.
We saw a lot of terrain with great visibility. No new avalanches today but we left the backcountry mid afternoon before the hottest part of the day. There were a few size 2 avalanches from the storm early in the week. </p>
southrockies,
Thursday 16th March, 2023 3:10PM
Happy in Heartbreak
<p>East side of the Flathead today, right up against the AB border. We had mostly blue skies and were able to see far and wide.
We saw no recent avalanches, no signs of instability, had no significant test results in (one) hasty pit.
In the Alpine here, its usual to have plenty of wind. Today was unusually calm, but previous wind had done a great job of stiffening the surface snow in any exposed area.
We had a solid college try at triggering a cornice fall (shoveling, stomping, cord-cutting) on a small no-consequence crossloaded feature, and eventually got a few pieces to go, but we described it as “unreactive”. We’re not completely discounting cornices as a hazard, and will be on the lookout when we get proper warming and / or loading from new snow or wind.
Despite the clear skies and beautiful bright sunshine, the temperatures stayed cool: -16 early on at the staging, with a high of -10 at 2100 m by 2pm. That, together with a light SW wind, kept the snow dry everywhere we were.
…… and it was BEAUTIFUL!</p>
southrockies,
Thursday 9th March, 2023 5:20PM
Harvey Pass AST
<p>Our AST course did a tour at Harvey Pass and found some great lines. We had good visibility and did not see any signs of recent avalanches, but noted several large cornices had formed at the top of the ridge. We dug a hasty pit just above 1900m on the NE aspect and had no propagation in our extended column test and a rough break in our compression test down 35cm. There was about 15cm of recent snow that was forming wind slab in isolated exposed areas. At noon it was -9 degrees at 2000m with light wind gusting to moderate coming out of the NW.</p>
bryson.mclellan,
Friday 3rd March, 2023 2:50PM
Soft (Lil' stumpy) Sleddin'
<p>Good day in the Marten Ridge area today, where we found 150 cm of snow at 1750m, just enough to give us great clearcut riding (amongst the stumps and snags that are still a hazard!)..
The sun came out periodically through the day, but it stayed cool enough that the snow wasn’t affected (-6 at 2pm at 1750 m)..
Moderate SW winds were starting to move some snow right at ridgetop, but had no effect in open Treeline areas today..
We saw no natural avalanches today at Treeline or below (no Alpine terrain in this area), saw no signs of instability in the moderate terrain we rode, and had no significant test results in a hasty pit at Treeline..
</p>
southrockies,
Wednesday 1st March, 2023 5:30PM
Dodging shallow spots
<p>We went to the very south of the BC Rockies today in the Galton Range. At 1700 m we found 100 cm of snow with the top half being settled snow and new snow on top. The bottom half was large sugary snow (facets) and a thin weak crust up about 30 cm. It definitely raised the alarm, so we dug down and did some tests. We had 2 extended column tests fail and indicate instability but another 4 with no result. We found some small, steep slopes to sled cut and had no results. With a bit of uncertainty we stuck to low angle terrain and had amazing riding!
No natural avalanches observed.</p>
southrockies,
Tuesday 28th February, 2023 5:00PM
Colder than the Yukon
<p>-25 at 1700 m with moderate to strong east wind had us sticking close to the truck. We were surprised to see a lot of blowing snow below treeline but we didn't see any natural avalanches on our long drive in or out. Fingers crossed it warms up soon!</p>
southrockies,
Thursday 23rd February, 2023 12:40PM
More new snow than expected!
<p>Not a lot of riding today but a great day of avalanche awareness with the FSA! More snow than expected, we found 15 new overnight at the Rolling Hills Cabin. We had mostly calm wind and half clouds half sun. Lots of folk out enjoying the great day. </p>
southrockies,
Saturday 18th February, 2023 4:10PM
Thunder Booms
<p>Heard a massive "boom" not too far away while we were on a bench. Witnessed several cornices fall from the top of China Wall and propagate class 1-2 slides (while having lunch in a safe zone). No sled triggered activity. Snow in open areas is thin and wind stabbed. Nice dry powder in shaded trees.</p>
brettdgregg,
Friday 17th February, 2023 2:20PM
Overload
<p> wind slab E-NE aspect. 70cm deep. 30m wide. Not steep enough to go far. </p>
DR Noworkski,
Thursday 16th February, 2023 7:20PM
Sheltered, High, North.
<p>We had strong gusts coming through all day at treeline from the southwest. They were transporting some snow but not a lot, we didn't have any cracking or signs of instability in lee areas. Higher in the alpine the wind was scouring snow and carrying it far away. We had great riding on north facing, sheltered terrain up high. Cut blocks at 1700 m were shallow and scarry, lots of stumps!</p>
southrockies,
Thursday 16th February, 2023 5:10PM
Cornice danger
<p>Our group got to witness a large cornice failure from a safe distance. No one was involved, but was rider triggered. Picture shows the avi path (the snow cleared trees). Large cracks present along the ridge top for the remaining cornices.</p>
jdtrapperboy,
Sunday 12th February, 2023 2:50PM
Great Riding on International Snowmobile Ride Day!
<p>Excellent conditions for International Snowmobile Ride Day! We rode 30cm of soft powder snow in sheltered areas below treeline. Our zone for the day had considerable surface hoar growth overnight of Feb 10th on all aspects up to 1950m. Strong wind picking up in the afternoon - shooting cracks and variable windslab in exposed terrain. </p>
nmatei,
Sunday 12th February, 2023 9:30AM
Cornices are not your friends
<p>25cm recent storm snow made for good skiing treeline and below. Quick pit at treeline N aspect showed 160cm total snow. Found 2 crusts below the recent storm snow, first one down 60cm which was "sudden planar" in the hard range (22) in a compression test. The other was down 90cm, quite thin, and below that my probe just dropped to ground through the facets. Perhaps low probably, but with a big trigger (cornice)- high consequence I believe. Stayed away alpine slopes with overhead hazard and stuck to the trees.</p>
sboyd3,
Saturday 11th February, 2023 4:40PM
New snow in Corbin
<p>Today in Corbin we found some great skiing with 22 cm of new snow. There were light winds at treeline but no snow transport. Later in the day as we were leaving the wind seemed to start picking up a bit. Temperatures at 2100 m were -4.5 C and a mix of sun and cloud helped the snow stay dry and low-density throughout the day. There were a few new loose dry avalanches from steep terrain. </p>
southrockies,
Wednesday 8th February, 2023 4:30PM
42.5 Area
<p>Knee deep!!! </p>
lulufatz,
Saturday 4th February, 2023 6:50PM
Baldy Lake Ridge
<p>Toured up to a high point of 2150m today at the South end of the Galton Range. We found 20 cm of dry, unconsolidated snow over a surprisingly shallow yet consolidating 100 cm snowpack.
Visibility was poor into the Alpine, but at treeline, we had no significant results in our snowpack tests, nor while skiing, saw no natural avalanches, nor did we see or experience any signs of instability.</p>
southrockies,
Tuesday 24th January, 2023 5:40PM
gettin' crusty at harvey
<p>Found some decent skiing at 42.5 at Harvey pass, but the warm temperatures meant the snow was starting to seize. I'd hate to ski over the old tracks once they set.
Some loose wet slides (0.5-1) from Friday still visible. All started from cliffs or rocky terrain. We avoided rocks/shallow areas in the snowpack and had no wumphs or other signs of instability. The skin quality was the worst at the top of the ridge and improved lower down.
Mostly stuck to mellow and treed slopes except for 20m up to the ridge line. Ski quality was awful up there (over 2 day old debris from a wet slide) but no signs of instability today.</p>
nicolemorter,
Sunday 15th January, 2023 8:30PM
Off Corbin Road
<p>No signs of instability. 105 cm of snow at 1860 m. 20 cm of soft snow on 2 cm ice layer. Skiing on fresh snow at tree line did not break through the ice crust. </p>
Farley,
Thursday 12th January, 2023 4:20PM
Cloud break at Heartbreak
<p>Visibility at Corbin Pass was less than ideal this morning, keeping us out of avalanche terrain while we couldn't see overhead hazard or avoid areas where the snowpack was rocky and thin. The freshly groomed trail in helped to ease the disappointment.
We dug at Raingauge, on a north aspect at 2000 m and had no results on any of our stability tests (CTN, ECTX, DTN).
The December rain crust was supportive at this location, buried 40cm deep under wind affected snow, and the November facets are buried 75cm deep.
The persistent problem is still on our radar and guiding our terrain choices, but the signs of stability we have found this week are encouraging.
The clouds cleared as we sledded over for a look at Heartbreak, showing wind affected slopes but no recent avalanche activity.</p>
southrockies,
Wednesday 11th January, 2023 4:50PM
Better than expected
<p>Better than expected skiing on a north aspect near Harvey. 20cm of settled powder overtop of the melt crust. Couldn’t feel the crust underfoot and no signs of instability. Wind and snow picked up late in the day.</p>
WhiteSprinter,
Monday 9th January, 2023 7:20AM
More Than Moderately Good
<p>Good quality riding today in the Coal Creek area above 1600m. Surprised to find ample windblown untracked pow in most riding areas. Considerable usage/buried tracks visible on steep slopes with no signs of avalanches. Test pit at 1968m on 40-degree N open glade: ECTN28 at 110cm. Hard to get a great photo but result was on decomposing SH & FC layer. </p>
nmatei,
Thursday 5th January, 2023 7:20PM
Exceeds expectations
<p>Today at Harvey we went out planning to manage a persistent avalanche problem. So we headed up a conservative route and found a representative place to dig down and look. We found two crusts buried 30 cm which were strong enough to support us standing on them. We weren't finding signs of avalanches, like whumpfing or cracking or naturals avalanches, so we figured the crusts must be bridging over the weak layer. We found a small piece of terrain without consequence to test our theory and had great riding from treeline down. </p>
southrockies,
Wednesday 4th January, 2023 3:50PM
Above the clouds
<p>Nice day at Harvey, really happy with the stability. Skied south and north aspects around Curevball. Cold in the clouds, warmer in the sun. Probably some sun crust formed on the south aspects above the cloud yesterday. Not really powder, but nice soft turns with little wind effect. A few sleds and snowbikes in the area as well without any signs of triggering anything substantial. </p>
Michael Caine,
Tuesday 3rd January, 2023 11:50AM
Better than expected!
<p>Surprisingly good riding conditions in the wake of this week's storm. We stuck to low-angle terrain with no overhead hazard in sheltered trees, open wind-sifted meadows and cut blocks. Total snowpack heights variable around 6000ft at 120-240cm. Temps -1C with light winds through the day.
Snowpit in SW sheltered gully feature, 25 degrees: ECTN11 down 27cm on surface hoar/facets. 21cm of new fist-density snow (dry!) sitting on a 2cm crust (visible in photo). </p>
info,
Thursday 29th December, 2022 7:50AM
Rain at Rain Gauge !
<p>We went to the Corbin and sledded in to the Rain Gauge area. It was a wet start, but soon turned to snow at around 1700m. As we climbed into the alpine the trees turned from green to white !
The temperatures were mild, -1C at 2000m with a moderate SW wind.
We dug a quick profile on a SW slope in an open, treeline feature where we found 135cm snow depth. There was 25cm of moist snow on a melt-freeze crust and the November persistent weak layer was down 85cm. The facets below this layer seem to be gaining strength.
Another group reported seeing an avalanche that sounded like a size 2 from a North facing slope on open feature.
Lots of roller balls, rain runnels, small wet loose and small wet slabs as we headed back to the staging area below 1500m</p>
southrockies,
Tuesday 27th December, 2022 5:20PM
Barnes Lake
<p>Sledding and poking around in the Barnes Lake / Limestone Ridge area today under an overcast / foggy sky - - - nope, that forecasted sun+cloud was just .... cloud :-(
Here’s some thoughts for the weekend:
# Snowpack is 1m (stumps / rocks?)
# no natural or human triggered avalanches observed
# no signs of instability
BUT
# that mid-Nov weak layer is now 70+cms down in this area …. which means it is becoming progressively harder to trigger, SO, if it does go, there’s much more snow to be buried under!
# What was our take-away? ……. this wasn't the day for those big steeps, big bowls, or big highmarks …. BUT that was ok, 'cos the upper part of the snowpack is light dry pow, which sleds and skis REALLY nicely on that lower angle terrain !</p>
southrockies,
Friday 16th December, 2022 6:00PM
Rolling Hills has the weak layer too :-(
<p>Out in the sunshine today in the Rolling Hills ..... dug a hole (between sled tracks :-) on a low angle NE facing slope at 1940m.
Snowpack here was 140cm, with that Nov 21st Surface Hoar / Facet Crystal weak layer down 65cms.
An Extended Column Test failed on this layer, propogating right across the test block (ECTP), confirming our keep-it-mellow plan.
Plenty of stumps and rocks in this relatively shallow early-season snowpack .... watch yer skis and A-arms !!
Sorry, the pic doesn’t add info, but sure is purty eh ?!</p>
duncan,
Sunday 11th December, 2022 8:40PM
avalanches in hosmer
<p>SUPER SPICY CONDITIONS
triggered 3, size 2/2.5avalanches remote/sympatheticly from the skin track with crowns around 1m deep. all the snow we have had in December was sliding on the November facet/hoar layer. NW aspect around 2000m at treeline</p>
Henry Hungerford Barrett,
Sunday 11th December, 2022 4:40PM
Harvey Pass - ridge line
<p>ECT 26 P - down 65cm on facets, many small 1-5cm wind slabs let loose while skiing. Whomping while walking on ridge (wind slab).</p>
spencer.robertson,
Saturday 10th December, 2022 10:00AM
Corbin / Rain Gauge - still early season !
<p>Rain gauge observations from today: the day was a bit warmer -7 at 2000m there was moderate Southwest winds that made it feel a bit cooler.
There is 145cm at tree line, with a weak layer of surface hoar and facets down 65 cm. We continue to get results in snowpack tests on this layer. Today we had an ECTP (27) down 65 cm on sz 5 SH)
The snowpack is a bit more consolidated here (compared to our Elkford trip yesterday) but it is still weak and sugary from the cold temperatures</p>
southrockies,
Wednesday 7th December, 2022 5:20PM
casual trench warfare
<p>probed between 135 and 150cm while out sledding today @ approx 2000m. winds light to moderate at times, coming from the south. snowpack quite hollow and faceted still down near the ground</p>
Henry Hungerford Barrett,
Wednesday 7th December, 2022 3:30PM
Corbin road touring
<p>Found good riding on sheltered west aspects. Significant reactive weak layer present with frequent whumphing and remote triggers on isolated features. Suspicious for a buried hoar frost layer? 20-40cm of overlaying powder. Substantial propagation up to 40m. Overall touchy conditions kept us off anything significant.</p>
Steven Noël,
Sunday 4th December, 2022 7:30PM
Harvery Pass North Aspect
alexmartingalan,
Monday 28th November, 2022 9:30AM
Harveys but better
samirsomji,
Monday 28th November, 2022 9:30AM
Snow conditions update
<p>I uploaded a photo describing the snowpack density profile. Wind touched the new snow from 48 hours ago, creating a variable ski experience. Whumphing, shoosting cracks, and drum band noises on the walk uphill warned us of impending slab attacks. Planks with less edges had a slightly more enjoyable time on the downhill. Humans can release the snowpack tension in slab form if they touch the convexity in just the right spot. </p>
bross_mmkay,
Friday 25th November, 2022 9:30AM
Harvey pass - good conditions
<p>Good but not fantastic conditions at Harvey pass.
There was some powder on north facing slopes. South facing slopes on the ridge south of curveball was wind affected/slabby
Curveball itself was variable snow and skied out, decided to take another slope down.</p>
canadianrockyskibike,
Monday 21st November, 2022 9:30AM
Harveys
samirsomji,
Sunday 20th November, 2022 9:30AM
Shark dodging at Harvey Pass
Ben Ingle,
Tuesday 15th November, 2022 9:30AM
Harvey
<p>Riding was awesome. Skied jnto Harvey’s bowl.
Facets were everywhere about 10mm tall. No signs of instability.
Parking at 42.5km. </p>
danyal.taylor,
Saturday 12th November, 2022 9:30AM
A good day anytime of year
<p>Super fun skiing, ~10cm blower on top of supportive layer. Good coverage. Sun definitely helped keep us warm and started making E facing aspects slightly sun affected could cause a crust.</p>
conniehenderson3,
Thursday 10th November, 2022 9:30AM
Tinkle Town
<p>Cold but beautiful day in Harvey Pass. Wind affect in ALP/Ridgetops, improved ski quality in sheltered areas at TL, sketchy early season hazards BTL. Widespread Surface Hoar growth, size 2-5mm. </p>
mattszczepanski.ms,
Wednesday 9th November, 2022 9:30AM
Harvey Pass
<p>Windy and cooling throughout the day. Evidence of Natural Avalanche activity during recent storm. Melt-Freeze Crust up to ~1875m, wind affected surfaces above. Snow depth 60-80cm @ TL. </p>
mattszczepanski.ms,
Sunday 6th November, 2022 9:30AM
snow
<p>Sc sz 2.5, might have been bigger was hard to see the whole pile of debris in the low viz. 70cm-1.3m around 1900/2000m. there's 3 layers in the snowpack, snow that fell last week, snow that fell this week, and snow that fell in last 24hrs.
when I made the ski cut the new snow from last 24hrs started moving first and then stepped down to the snow from last week layer once it gained mass. propagated quite wide and revealed several rocks that were previously buried </p>
Henry Hungerford Barrett,
Saturday 5th November, 2022 10:30AM