Kootenay Pass
Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 28th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Storm Slabs, Cornices.
Published: Mar 27th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Storm Slabs, Cornices.
Published: Mar 26th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Loose Wet, Cornices.
Published: Mar 25th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Loose Wet, Storm Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 24th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 23rd, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 22nd, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Persistent 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, Loose Wet.
Published: Mar 16th, 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: Wind Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 11th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 10th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 9th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 8th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Mar 7th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Mar 6th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Mar 5th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs, Persistent Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Mar 4th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 3rd, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 2nd, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Mar 1st, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Feb 28th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Feb 27th, 2025Camel's hump
Zipped out to Camel's Hump and skied 2 laps on its western face. Visibility was decent, with some cloud cover hiding various peaks. Snowed on and off for the majority of the day.
Skiing was excellent, no signs of instability anywhere we could see across the valley or on any of our laps. All in all a great day!
bclarke11,
Monday 8th January, 2024 7:30AM
Incredible conditions at Kootenay Pass (Baldy Rocks)
Did not experience any signs of instability. Snow was fantastic quality. Some sloughing when skiing steeper slopes. We skied both north and south aspects off of Baldy Rocks.
boothmackenzie95,
Sunday 7th January, 2024 8:50PM
Finally some fluffy stuff
Great day near the Crags. Super good snow, no concerning signs that we saw. Didn’t notice any cracking, whumpfing, some sloughing on steeper features, new snow was light and fluffy.
Still some sharks under the new snow though. Tempting to go full speed but even around 1800-1900m there was still branches and logs poking out enough to grab you if you weren’t careful.
pl.ab.ca,
Sunday 7th January, 2024 7:00PM
Better than expected
Better than expected skiing at Lightning Strike sw. First time skiing the area, but was impressed. We skiied 25* slopes, but another party skiied the steep slopes right from the top with no sign of instability. At the end of the day the snow got sticky. There was ~10cm surface hoar in open areas.
Colin Hoglund,
Friday 29th December, 2023 5:40PM
Plan D for the win
No signs of instability or recent avalanches. Warmer than expected, staying above zero until ~1800m. Not surprisingly many open creeks on skin up. In alpine some wind affect with small pockets of soft slab up to 2cm thick. Breakable crust down 15-20cm below 1800m. Overall good riding.
Lisa Tedesco,
Friday 29th December, 2023 7:00AM
Cornice / Buzz’s
Good day lapping cornice ridge and Buzz’s ridge. ~10-15cm of settled powder made for good skiing. Many other groups in the area, and on the south side of the highway.
BubblegumOutlaw,
Thursday 28th December, 2023 7:50PM
Kootenay Pass Dec 26-27
Had a good time skiing the Kootenay Pass on Dec 26 and 27.
Did the Baldy rocks the first day and then couple mellow hills towards the Crags on the second day.
Overall great condition for the person from the coast.
The coverage was good, got one shark on a steeper slope.
Some breakable crust at the lower part of the Baldy, fresh powdery snow at the Crags with a touch of heaviness to it.
No avalanche conditions were observed.
Also met people who attempted to ski Lightning Strike on Dec 27 and they were saying it was quite mediocre and the coverage wasn't good.
gri.loginov,
Thursday 28th December, 2023 3:10PM
No cornice on Cornice Ridge
Skied laps on the east slopes off Cornice Ridge. Nice powder and no feeling/no signs of instability.
LuJo,
Tuesday 26th December, 2023 9:20PM
Baldy Rocks and Crags
We skied Baldy Rocks to the south, traversed over to the crags in the southwest, and returned by crossing the pass. Afterward, we skinned up to descend into Baldy Rocks to the west, making our way back to the car. The 15 cm of fresh snowfall on Friday night improved conditions, resulting in enjoyable skiing on gentler slopes. Despite the favorable conditions, steeper sections presented challenges with lurking sharks that wanted to chop at our ski bases. The SW descent on the crags had some variable snow (wind effect). The new snow exhibited some slabbing on steep southern aspects, particularly after being exposed to the sun. There were no signs of avalanches on the surrounding slopes. The weather remained mostly sunny with mild winds and cold temps in the shade.
SIda,
Sunday 24th December, 2023 10:30AM
Tough conditions
Solid crust from warmer temps and rain since Tuesday when the skiing was quite good. Surface hoar above 1900m or so. Skied Baldy Rocks NW.
dudley69,
Friday 22nd December, 2023 2:50PM
Better than expected
Skied two runs on baldy, about 10cm of fresh everywhere, the backside was crusty, skiing back towards the parking lot was quite a bit better. Still quite a few hazards and creeks in the trees, but all around a good day with no signs of a danger.
sgerm2355,
Tuesday 19th December, 2023 3:30PM
Cornice ridge
Solars have a crust, otherwise decent skiing. Still a bit thin, quite a few sharks in some spots.
West aspect 1970m, HS80-100, ECTX, CTN. Didn't find any surface hoar, HST seems to be bonding pretty well to the crust.
TsugaMertensiana,
Thursday 14th December, 2023 3:30PM
Crags SW
pl.ab.ca,
Wednesday 13th December, 2023 6:30PM
Cornice zone
Got a few laps in on different aspects around cornice ridge.
Noticed some pinwheeling in the afternoon, and anywhere with direct solar input had some moist surface snow. The fog and light wind rolling around will have definitely kept some areas preserved.
Overall good quality skiing where there's a smooth surface with not too many rocks poking out!
Quick test profile N asp, 2050m showed mostly moist old facets under the dec 6 crust, and right side up new snow above. There were no significant shears where we dug.
jonno1,
Monday 11th December, 2023 5:20PM
Cornice Ridge
Kootenay Avalanche Course, AST1
Morning had moderate wind from the NE, Small amounts of moving snow.
Mix of sun and clouds throughout morning, mostly cloudy in the afternoon.
Observed several solar aspects having evidence of warming.
Snow was getting heavier by the end of the day.
Nick Padoin,
Monday 11th December, 2023 3:40PM
Baldy rocks Dec 10th
Ski'd S and W aspects of baldy, new snow raised HS to vary between 90-120cms.
40cm of HST from the last 2 pulses of weather is low density and didn't appear to be demonstrating slab properties YET. The cloud cover all day I'm sure helped with that.
A crust still exists 50cms down, and was showing broken fractur characteristics in hand shear tests.
WSW winds the night before showed signs of transport to N-E aspects at ridgetop, something to be weary of when dropping into what could be loaded start zones.
Observed no whumping or cracking or new avalanche activity Good skiing on open mellow slopes.
Main take away from the day was that many hazards still lurk in the thin snowpack. Kissed some rocks on the open slopes we ski'd and tree skiing still extremely hazardous with stumps open creeks at lower elevations.
dan_prout,
Monday 11th December, 2023 7:30AM
Cornice / Buzz's
Generally variable conditions
Hs varied from 85 - 135.
Not much wind effect on Cornice ridge ( minor windlips )
Heard and felt whumpfing, seemed to have travel quite far, onto other aspect. Approx. 100m. Loud.
Nick Padoin,
Sunday 10th December, 2023 4:00PM
Kootenay Pass
A classic early season jaunt at Kootenay Pass. We took some core samples of local rocks and in return they sampled the cores of our skis.
Multiple crowns (size 1) were observed in windloaded terrain near ridgetop, seemingly failing mid-storm on the Dec 01 surface hoar. We found this down 15-30 with SH exceeding 20mm in sheltered north-facing terrain. Limited visibility prevented seeing the extent of the natural cycle, but conditions seemed quite touchy anywhere the wind had been, with abundant shooting cracks and whumpfs. Great skiing could be found in small pockets undisturbed by the wind, if you could avoid the obstacles...
Winds at ridgetop were light from the SW with evidence of previous transport. On our final run around 14:30 we experienced the beloved meteorlogical event known as freezing rain, which by the time we reached the highway had formed a 2mm rain crust in open areas. Warming temps at lower elevations were also casuing moist snow in the top 5cm by days end.
kylegorenko,
Sunday 3rd December, 2023 9:10PM
AST 1 Course
Light fluffy powder, transitioning into wetter, heavier snow in the latter half of the day.
Precip all day. S1 in the AM, Freezing rain in the PM.
20 - 25 cm of new snow since friday.
Sitting on top of a hefty 20mm- 30mm SH layer, Well preserved.
Some wind transport on ridge top nothing significant. Wind 10-20km.
Minor cracking. No signs of avalanches.
Nick Padoin,
Sunday 3rd December, 2023 4:30PM
Baldy rocks, barely not bald
Not the worst, but not good. We skied the north side of Baldy. Snow depth is averaging maybe about 50cm. Maybe 10 cm of new snow, and still snowing at 2pm. Enough snow to give you a bit of false confidence.
CGar Skier,
Saturday 2nd December, 2023 10:10PM
Thin base at kp
Warm temperature and clear sunny days this past week reduced snowpack depth and formed sun crust on any south aspect slopes steeper than about 15 degrees. Lots of bare rock and ground on steep exposed south slopes. Lots of deadfall and shrubs in forested terrain. Snowpack generally inadequate for safe turns on south side of Lightning Strike/Baldy/Crags.
ryanc,
Friday 1st December, 2023 9:30PM
Baldy Rocks West
A classic early season Kootenay pass day!
Ben Whitton,
Wednesday 29th November, 2023 9:36PM
Baldy
<p>30cm HS over 2cm MFCr at 1900m W aspect, which carried very well up/down to make for excellent travel and skiing. By 2050m MFCr was no longer present. Storm must have finished without a ton of wind as there is 20-30cms available for transport near ridgetop. Convective cells rolled in by 11am which may have saved some snow on west aspects?</p>
toddvds,
Wednesday 12th April, 2023 6:00PM
Sluffin Muffin
core_world_pro,
Saturday 8th April, 2023 5:50PM
North side of KP
<p>The day started out sunny with the snow starting to get wet on south aspects by 10am then convective clouds rolled in and and temperatures cooled down. By 200pm it started to snow heavily for an hour.
No signs of any avalanche activity. </p>
rthomfor,
Wednesday 5th April, 2023 9:40AM
South side of KP
<p>The day was mostly cloudy with very short periods, where the sun would peek out.
Very little signs of any avalanche activity other than storm snow sluffing on steep terrain </p>
rthomfor,
Monday 3rd April, 2023 8:30AM
One free refill.. supersized
<p>Supportive crust underneath 30-50cm storm snow. Significant sluff on steeper sections with skier interaction. Smiles all around :) </p>
M Heff,
Sunday 2nd April, 2023 6:30AM
Lost creek and Wolf Ridge
<p>Skied from Bridal lake to the lower chain-up area on the east side of Kootenay pass. Not a lot of avalanche activity other than a lot of size 1 and .5 in steep northwest aspects. South slopes were getting wet early. Easterly winds were quite strong and was deposited snow along ridge lines</p>
rthomfor,
Tuesday 28th March, 2023 5:20PM
Twin Lakes Pow Laps
<p>We skied three different aspects in the same drainage, all runs were great! About 15-20cm of dry powder on top of a supportive crust.
We saw old avy debris here and there, and the only instability we witnessed was a small slough we released on 50+ degree slope.
The weather was better than expected, with the odd patch of sun every now and then. We were mindful of slopes that received the sun longer. </p>
ViewSeeker,
Sunday 26th March, 2023 9:00AM
Missile ridge
<p>We skied multiple aspects and had some loose slugging of some dust on the sun crust layer. No noted slab formation or reactivity through the day</p>
collinandrus,
Saturday 25th March, 2023 4:50AM
NW cornice ridge
<p>Kootenay Backcountry guide AST2 course
We rode NW of Cornice ridge. The snow was great!
</p>
camillexleblanc,
Saturday 18th March, 2023 7:50PM
Kootenay Pass
ifaulknr,
Wednesday 15th March, 2023 3:40PM
Ripple ridge cabin overnight
<p>Good conditions in the trees, powder was almost too deep on low angle slopes. We stayed away from open/exposed slopes. Wind slab storm slab on ridge at tree line.</p>
samuel.bc12,
Monday 13th March, 2023 11:20PM
Creston Wild Stallions
<p>The Creston Wild Stallions were spotted loose in Stagleap Park again. ~20cm new snow within 48h, dug a pit then skied down SW aspect of Buzz ridge: Amazing conditions, 16cm of fresh powder on well healed snow pack, ~0*C. Skinned up Missile and skied E aspect down: Sun affected and warm resulting in stickier powder but great riding. Then skinned back up to Cornice and skied ridgeline down to parking around 5pm: Storm moved in and wind affected from NE, challenging at top but once within trees skiing excellent. No whumpfing, no observable avalanches.</p>
OK Tony,
Monday 13th March, 2023 10:00AM
Camels Hump North East
<p>Snow was great and aside from loose sluff was stable on the North West facing trees, but I did one run further east around the shoulder and released a little class 1 wind slab. The east facing features are getting strong wind effect.</p>
core_world_pro,
Sunday 5th March, 2023 5:30PM
Kootenay Pass, Baldy
<p>Epic day. Rode steep N and NE slopes. Some sluffing of storm snow. Size 0.5 wind slab pocket released on the ne aspect of a cross loaded N couloir on a cornice release. No other avalanche activity noted. Very deep, good riding. Legends who put in the skin track. Boot to knee depth on the ski penetration. Cheers</p>
Forrest Bilek,
Friday 3rd March, 2023 7:50PM
Kootenay Pass
<p>It was. a very stormy day with heavy snows at times and strong wind gusts coming from the west.
Lots of wind slab development on ridge lines and lee slopes.
We saw no evidence of any avalanche activity.</p>
rthomfor,
Friday 3rd March, 2023 7:20AM
Kootenay Passable
<p>Laps of Lightening Ridge. Plenty of Ld sluffing to chase you down hill. Indicator slopes showed some slab quality about 40 down, but resistant and hard. ECTN results 20m off ridge crest on NW aspect at 2020m. Right way up snowpack with some MFcr at various depths, no obvious PWL in top 100cm. Didn't see any Sst and bond to Swd looked good where observed.
Skiied the steepest short runs off the ridge we could find, but take care around the sluff - it goes pretty big Sz1. </p>
george.loomes,
Sunday 26th February, 2023 9:20PM
Wee bit of recent WIND
<p>Endless evidence of recent strong WIND. Styrofoam like snow, wind affected, sastrugi, lots with tree moss (mosstrugi?!), even in semi-dense trees, healthy cornices, etc. I believe the scientific term is wind fuct? At least there were great views as far as the eye could see. </p>
mattatwhistler,
Friday 24th February, 2023 6:30PM
Sunny & Surface Hoar
<p>Beauty day at Kootenay Pass. Alpine winds were West at 30-40 km/h but no ridge top transport. Evidence of recent lee side loading on east aspects. Healthy surface hoar overnight 3-4cm in size that was not there yesterday. It was surprisingly resistant to winds, present on all aspects and all elevations except ridge top. </p>
mattatwhistler,
Wednesday 15th February, 2023 9:20PM
Great Skiing Treed Slopes in Simple Terrain
<p>Moist snow on south facing slopes as well as thin crust present under ~5cm of snow. East facing slopes in treed Terrain were totally rad.</p>
luka.ledoux,
Tuesday 14th February, 2023 8:40PM
Kootenay Pass
<p>Morning started out fairly clear then it turn foggy with freezing rain. The fog really reduced visibility so we stay in the trees. we saw no signs of any avalanche activity.
The powder has gotten a lot denser but skiing was still okay.</p>
rthomfor,
Sunday 12th February, 2023 5:40PM
Freezing Fog/Rain in Kootenay Pass
<p>Went for a walk for the first time in Kootenay Pass. Progressively more wind (from the west) and worse visibility the higher on Cornice Ridge we got, turned around at 2370m due to low visibility and unfamiliarity with the terrain. No signs of instability and lots of other parties out. Windslab was 10-15cm thick at 2370m on the ridge. </p>
aidan.mckenna,
Sunday 12th February, 2023 2:10PM
South side Kootenay pass
<p>Skied 2 north facing lines, one off ripple and one off baldy. No signs of instability were noted on anything north facing. However, I stepped on to a south facing aspect of a ridge as we were skinning up and felt a small drop on each step as if a hoar frost layer below the last storm slab was collapsing. On our drive back down on the salmo side 3 wet slides had come down over the highway and were blocking most of the downhill lane.</p>
lthiesse,
Saturday 11th February, 2023 11:20PM
AST-2 Cornice Ridge
<p>skinned up cornice ridge, Skied SW and a SE run. Generally good skiing. Moist snow Observed solar aspects becoming a crust in the afternoon. Clear morning, with thin overcast in the afternoon. West/ SW winds. Quick compression test near ridge top in a lee slope. CTM 14 (SP) down 50 on suspected rain crust</p>
k.net786,
Saturday 11th February, 2023 8:30PM
Kootenay Pass in a whiteout
<p>It was a whiteout kind of day with heavy snows with foggy periods which made the light very flat. Winds were out of the NWW, light with gusty conditions on ridge lines. Lot of snow transport with wind slab deposits and lots of wind pillows on ridge lines. No signs of any avalanches but visibility was poor most of the day.</p>
rthomfor,
Tuesday 7th February, 2023 7:20PM
Weekend jaunt to KP
<p>Toured up cornice ridge with a plan to potentially ski missile ridge if conditions allowed. Conditions did not allow. Heavy set clouds, poor vis steered us to more mellow laps into the south side of buzz ridge. Snow was heavy, wind effected and slabby on the tops of cornice and buzz ridge. Skiing on the ridge tops was reliably popping out 1-2sqm ~15cm wind slab. Skiing improved significantly off the ridge tops, good snow density and so did the slabbiness. Did a couple of hand shears on 30 degree slopes off buzz ridge and it was relatively easy to pop off the top 30cm on the mid-Jan melt freeze layer. Overall lots of fun, safe turns to be had in the low angle trees above ~1700m.</p>
apeplowball,
Saturday 4th February, 2023 5:00PM
Cornice Ridge
<p>We skied a few laps off the east aspect of cornice ridge (~2100m, above the saddle). There was lots of wind effect along the ridge with some cross-loading and a distinct wind loaded layer (10-20cm thick) in patches (broke off in chunks). We skied dense-open trees, and generally avoided open areas in steeper terrain. There was no reactivity to ski cuts on the east aspect. We dug one pit with a CT and an ECT (see snowpack summary).</p>
JessR,
Wednesday 1st February, 2023 10:00PM
Cornice Ridge
<p>Good skiing on north side of Kootenay Pass. Great powder on Cornice Ridge east aspect, Buzz's Ridge SE aspect and SW aspect from Buzz's Ridge to Grover Lake. Missile Ridge SE was wind affected and variable from southerly winds. Surprisingly warm day with cold temps but full sun and almost no wind.</p>
gm.amos,
Monday 30th January, 2023 8:10AM
Pristine Pass
<p>Visibility wasn't the greatest today with fog rolling in and out near trees line. we saw no signs of any recent Avalanche activity. Temperatures remained steady around -7 celsius throughout the day. 20-30cm of dense powder made for fast skiing conditions.</p>
rthomfor,
Tuesday 24th January, 2023 4:50PM