Lake Louise
Avalanche 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, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Persistent Slabs, Loose Dry.
Published: Mar 10th, 2025Boom Mountain
We skied the far east side of the north face of Boom mountain, as approached from the lake. We skinned most of the way up the fan before switching to boot packing for the steep upper section. While there was significant powder (20+ cm), the base at the bottom of the slope was highly faceted. Higher up the base grew more supportive.
The skiing was great where it was great, but there were many rocks just under the powder. This spot needs another 30+ cm to be able to ski without fear. Furthermore, a slide previously ran down the fan, making the middle of the fan quite hard and icy.
dapadeanu,
Monday 8th January, 2024 8:10PM
Schooled in the Kindergarten couloir!
Craig McGee,
Monday 8th January, 2024 7:40PM
Chickadee Valley
Rode one of the farthest south facing slide paths up chickadee. Lured in with recent MINs of deep snow on Whymper we decided to see if there was as much snow on the other side of the valley - there was not. That being said the paths actually skied quite well but had to be super careful of sharks. Boot-top powder, HS 60-80cm with a mostly supportive sun/rain? crust 30-40cm down. Dug a quick hand pit on the way up which showed a resistant planar on about 5cm surface hoar. All in all not a bad day in the mountains
friesenp_,
Monday 8th January, 2024 12:00PM
Whymper N col
Skied the N Col on Whymper today. Probed a fair bit in the lower section of the main run. Lowest HS we found was 150cm highest was 250cm. Average was around 170cm. HST increased dramatically with elevation and we were surprised to find up to 50cm of blower dry powder up high. Average HST was 35cm. Loose dry observed out of extreme terrain all day but snow seemed to be bonding well with no signs of slab formation due to the low density.
bensoneff,
Saturday 6th January, 2024 7:00PM
Kindergarten couloir
Had a good day out riding kindergarten couloir.A size 1.5-2 avalanche in the last 24 hour ran down half the fan starting about 1/4 up the couloir looking to start from sluffing from the steeper rock walls on the side. The debris was set already making the boot pack a little easier. Further up turned to more firm snow and rather stiff at the top. Probed the center having 150cm. Temp was -10 at our transition. Skied well on the way with a few lumps to avoid.
shawnm8,
Saturday 6th January, 2024 6:20PM
Boom below Kindergarden
Decent day skiing the fans below the Kindergarden couloir. Open water in some places close to the lake. We saw 8 people ski the couloir today. Gentle snow throughout the day, minimal accumulation.
Tree across the trail about 1 km from the parking lot.
jones.lauraj,
Saturday 6th January, 2024 4:00PM
Panorama ridge area
Toured up to below the trident couloir zone to have a look at the couloirs on that wall. We had hoped to find features with a deeper snowpack but after some scoping and a quick pit in a mellow fan of one couloir it was clear things weren’t in yet. The couloirs all looked bony in places and the HS in the fan of the one line we investigated was average of 100cm. Dug a quick pit here and found a supportive midpack on 4F facets. ECTX but got a shovel shear to propagate on the basal facets 4cm off the ground. The shovel shear did take considerable efffort. Skied a lap on Panorama ridge afterwards and found 5cm of new snow on a suncrust.
bensoneff,
Friday 5th January, 2024 3:20PM
Panorama Ridge
Passable conditions on Panorama Ridge.
Trail to Taylor Lake is decent, thin conditions around corners and plenty of needle litter down low.
Most lines in the trees on the ridge are skied out with pockets of untouched snow here and there, but a troublesome solar crust exists on the surface of anything not protected by tree cover.
ahiggs,
Thursday 4th January, 2024 8:20AM
Surprise Pass
Lots of previous traffic up Saddle Pass and Surprise Pass, lots of stiff windslab, not a lot of fresh lines. The run skied quite chalky but edgeable and supportive. Some nice low density pow in sheltered areas at TL and below where we also observed large surface hoar chains. Skin track and bootpack were in great shape. Just below zero and calm winds all day.
jackvanlierop3807,
Wednesday 3rd January, 2024 2:30PM
Surprise Pass
Surprise pass needs some coverage like every where else. The nice part is access is easier because the exposure is less due to the lack of snow. The ski/boot pack up to the pass is quite hard packed./wind affected snow. We used the skin track but I think it would have been easier to boot pack in the very hard snow. Tracks showing people have done both methods. Once at the top it was apparent many people have been skiing there. The entrance has very poor coverage, loads of rocks exposed from lack of snow and side-slipping. Once past the rocks, the snow was wind affected and very hard. Not a break-thru crust, it's basically skiing ice. About halfway down the snow gradually improves to pow/crusty snow. The bottom 1/3 is the best snow but it's very tracked out.
cdvermette1,
Wednesday 3rd January, 2024 9:40AM
Boom Lake Chute
Surface hoar developing in sheltered areas, ~2-4 cm at the lake, <1cm at 2000m. At 2000m snowpack was around 60-75cm deep, with the temperature crust around 30-35cm deep. The bottom third of the snowpack is faceted junk.
Skied the first skiable chute on the Mt Bell side of Boom lake. Rode stale powder that was around boot top depth. We only skied about half of the treed portion of the chute, as the snow looked even thinner up top on the steeper convex slopes. The shorter trees are still more exposed, making the skiing a bit tighter but still fun.
walmsmichael,
Tuesday 2nd January, 2024 4:00PM
Chickadee Valley - Chute 1
Day was mainly sunny with some low clouds in the valley in the AM. There was still some decent powder in areas which had not yet been skied. Skied out areas were hard/crusty. Snow coverage was just enough to avoid rocks if you picked your line carefully. While there were no signs of present instability, significant surface hoar has developed and could lead to a weak layer at next snowfall. Overall solid day of skiing all things considered.
aidanjcooper,
Friday 29th December, 2023 4:20PM
Narao Shoulder into West Narao Bowl
We rode the Narao Shoulder and was pretty boney, the bowl west of Narao was crusty and wind affected. We got a ECTP30 on a weak layer around 50cm with no results but visible facets are ground level when with a pit at treeline of Narao Shoulder.
codymm03,
Thursday 28th December, 2023 6:50PM
Surprise Pass
Skinned up Saddleback Pass to Surprise Pass in the Lake Louise backcountry. We found 5cm of HST overlying a hard slab on all aspects at TL and in the Alpine. HS varied from 30cm in scoured areas at TL to 110cm in wind loaded pockets.
Na (I) observed from the north face of Victoria in the afternoon (serac fall). Although difficult to make out the crown of the avalanche, we’d likely call it a size 2 given the mass of snow that pulled out and its destructive potential.
Ski quality ranged from new storm snow on top of a hard slab for the first 300m and became less wind effected as we moved down the feature. Better than expected ski conditions with a few sharks still lurking here and there due to variable HS.
No other evidence of natural activity in the area. Weather remained cool all day with light winds on the Saddleback side and Calm winds once we cleared the pass
flagler.grant,
Sunday 24th December, 2023 5:40AM
Surprise Pass
We observed shooting cracks in areas with recent wind loading and avoided any steep wind loaded features.
James Walter,
Saturday 23rd December, 2023 5:50PM
Sluffing on Louise Falls
Route climbed easy for the grade with plastic ice, good screws, and dry throughout with minimal dripping. Can no longer get around the back of the left pillar, so best to enter either from the centre or the right.
shea.goyette,
Saturday 23rd December, 2023 6:10AM
Pope’s Glacier Winter Solstice
Went up Narao glades to Popes glacier. Lots of new deadfall along the road and in the glades, even more were noticed on our way down. Funny snow through the glades but good snow across the moraines and up the glacier. Noted some light sloughing in steep unskiable terrain and light wind transport sporadically. Skied from about 100m vertical below the col as the snow was starting to feel more wind affected and time was running short being the shortest day of the year.
JeffMcK,
Thursday 21st December, 2023 8:10PM
Narao glades
HS averaged 60cm throughout the day. Winds have ripped the snow from windward slopes, especially in the alpine. The bottom 25-30cm was Fc’s/DH progressively. From 2000-2200m there was a humidity (zipper) crust from the clouds that produced cracking and added energy to the slab properties.
Skiing was reasonable, with expected shallow pack hazards.
landondobson,
Tuesday 19th December, 2023 7:40PM
Taylor Lake
jimk,
Tuesday 19th December, 2023 8:50AM
Panorama Ridge
Busy day at Panorama Ridge. Significant wind effect at the higher elevations (~2450m+). Treed areas held soft snow that was thoroughly skied by the end of the day. Trail in and out had good coverage. It was cold in the shade, but the sun made an appearance mid-day.
BubblegumOutlaw,
Sunday 17th December, 2023 8:30PM
Conditions around Boom lake
Few pics from around Boom lake today - no significant obs aside from spindrift in steep unskiable terrain. Winds were howling at times as we neared TL but we didn’t push any further going up the drainage at the end of the lake. Crust offered supportive skiing - no slab overlaying it where we were skiing and no wind - sporty in the trees given the low HS to date. Trail down to parking in excellent shape.
bryan.daneau,
Saturday 16th December, 2023 2:30PM
Mt Fairview Natural Avalanche
Parks Canada Visitor Safety,
Friday 15th December, 2023 3:20PM
Kindergarten Couloir
Clear evidence of crossloading with hollow whumpfing sounds at the crest of ridges on tree triangle and deep light snow in leeward pockets suspect wind transport from SW wind over the past couple of days has something to do with it two firm crusts exist 20 cm down (most recent storm slab) and 30 cm down (december 1st rain crust?) Couloir itself has flushed clear multiple times and there is evidence of sluff compaction and wind activity inside the couloir ski quality was just ok some dust on crust
hyunho27,
Friday 15th December, 2023 3:00PM
Taylor Lake
Top of the moraine at 2250m had 120cm of snow. The top 15-20 cm was faceted out. Excellent skiing, with the mid pack being supportive. Rain crust on N aspects up to 2050m buried 20cm down. 3 Na wind slabs had pulled out on Bell couloir, size 1-2.
wardsbd,
Tuesday 12th December, 2023 5:10PM
Surprise Pass
Su Hang,
Sunday 10th December, 2023 11:00AM
Panorama ridge
Overall fairly good conditions. Good deep dry snow, not too heavy or highly consolidated., but several whumpfs......No wind effect. Surprised to see larches on ridge holding so much snow. Very calm throughout the day. ....... hardly any base below storm snow on ridge top, but just a bit down was 125cm. Nobody hit any sharks.....summer trail was reasonable, few ducks and downed trees but no scraping ground.....CTSC21 at 35 from ground in facets about 5cm below melt freeze crust which should decompose, and is not heavy enough to be vapour impermeable. Above that was reasonable progressive pack. Hard to detect SH without a failure on that......
Jimbo,
Saturday 9th December, 2023 5:10PM
Surprise Poke
Test profile off Paradise Valley Trail en route to surprise pass. HS 95, temp -14 NE @ 2250.
50cm of fist to 4 finger new snow above 3-6mm SH. Below this fist facets with approx 20cm of Depth Hoar at the base of the pack.
Repeatable Easy Sudden Collapse results on DH. Not much traffic and was still getting whumphs on established uptrack so turned around. Not the ski compaction we were looking for.
Walked to the end of the lake to look at the run and saw a fresh size 2 crown in the fan of the main run.
Brad Roach,
Saturday 9th December, 2023 2:30PM
Surprise pass
Uptrack is set on surprise pass, coverage was decent after the recent storm. However, lots of sharks lurking top section of the pass.
Saw few small 0.5 sized avalanche along the way.
Lake Louise is not frozen yet, do not travel on it unless you want 30 lb skis.
AmereH,
Friday 8th December, 2023 7:30PM
Every gully feature released, Lake Agnes
Small pockets at ridgetop cracking and cross loaded gully released size 1 loaded by strong westerly.
iwelsted,
Wednesday 29th November, 2023 9:38PM
East Panorama Ridge
cevictorero,
Wednesday 29th November, 2023 9:37PM
Late season glacier condition photos (2 of 2)
Parks Canada,
Saturday 14th October, 2023 9:30AM
Late season glacier condition photos (1 of 2)
Parks Canada,
Saturday 14th October, 2023 9:30AM
Avalanches in Plain of ^ Glaciers Trail
Parks Canada Visitor Safety,
Tuesday 2nd May, 2023 1:10PM
Avalanches in Lake Louise Area
Parks Canada Visitor Safety,
Tuesday 2nd May, 2023 1:00PM
Taylor Zone
<p>Decided to try and beat the heat by heading up behind Taylor lake. There was a strong crust up until 2100m, but above that N/NE aspects held a covering of nice powder snow with no tracks.
We skied the lower part of the Bell couloir feature, but didn't feel like playing chicken with the large convex roll, and opted to do a few laps on the moraines, which also held good snow.
At around 10 AM the east faces of the nearby steep ridges started getting sun and shedding small amounts of snow. We also observed pretty gusty convective flurries from around boom lake.
Interestingly, probing in the zone above the lake had a snowpack that felt like facets on the bottom, but the couloir feature itself didn't have the same feeling (more consistent resistance to the bottom of 1-1.5m hs, old slide debris?). The crust on the lake was starting to break down by 11 AM in the sun.</p>
jeremy.cherlet,
Sunday 23rd April, 2023 4:40PM
Trident
<p>Skied lookers right line on Trident. Fast travel and good booting. No signs of slab instability. Things warmed up a lot by 11-12 and rock was shedding. Got hit by a good sluff near the top, came off south facing rocks. Huge cornice in middle prong. Looked at bell on the way out, decent size sluff stretched down lookers right side.
Start early.</p>
hurleyldave,
Saturday 22nd April, 2023 4:50PM
Lower Cathedral
<p>A wet slide with 1 m crown, likely slid on the basal weak layer. The slide was triggered when a skier entered a steep E facing gully around 2100 m asl. This would be below treeline</p>
tbissig,
Thursday 20th April, 2023 4:20PM
Whymper N col
<p>Broke trail all day up the N col. Really good ski conditions, wintery snow conditions. We probed a few places and found 175 cms on the lower steep section, 280 cms at our pit at 2200m and over 320 cms on the last slope above the rock triangle. In our pit we didn’t get any results on the compression test. We only dug down 130 cms and the snow pack seemed right side up. Bellow that was pencil snow.</p>
jbvdb493,
Tuesday 18th April, 2023 5:40PM
Surprise Pass Skiers Beware
<p>Saw Chris’s min yesterday during the recent storm cycle so decided to check out the same zone today. Surprise Pass lookers right went quite big. Surprise pass itself did not slide, it might look appealing from the top but at a minimum you will have 1/2 a run of some of the worst skiing imaginable. Large chunky debris that scoured the narrow bit wall to wall and is expansive in the fan, almost crossing the flat skin track at the bottom. We went here having skied in the same zone most days out of the past 10, we had skied this exact slope 4 April and turned around close to the top due to a couple of hand shears we didn’t like. In the previous storm cycle (10 April) this slope slid almost exaclty where we turned around. I assumed because it had already slid 1-2 times that we might be able to make our way higher up and at a minimum ski the trees skiers left on the descent. As soon as we saw the slope from the lake we decided we wouldn’t ski but decided to go poke around and see the size of the debris. Play safe </p>
Tim Banfield,
Tuesday 18th April, 2023 12:50PM
Lake Louise group
<p>Arrived at the carpark with 10cm at 7.30. No wind, all quiet. Crossing the lake it started nuking, whilst at the back heading up trees towards no surprise storm snow increased to 20cm with elevation. Stoke was high until our coulior ran full path just beside us. Once that first slide went it sounded like everything just started Avalanching. Once above 1900m the storm snow dried out and became very reactive sluffing easily off steep rolls within tight trees. We bailed and on our way out could see lots of activity. Skin track was basically gone too. Truck had 10cm on it within a few hours. Convective isolated spring storms at its finest. </p>
Moneypenny_MakesMINS,
Monday 17th April, 2023 3:20PM
Bell + trident
<p>Fun day of skiing today. Bottom 1/3 of bell was 5-10cm on top of old debris, top 2/3 was consolidated powder with a bit of a wind skin on top. Didn't notice any instability in the new snow, lots of wind in the upper bowl though. Trident skiers right prong skied amazing all the way to the valley floor, left prong(s) had slid within the last week. Temps were pretty mild until 2pm, then the sun came out in full force. </p>
A.Stefan,
Saturday 15th April, 2023 6:50PM
Whymper Col
<p>Great conditions to Whymper Col today. Cold dry snow from valley bottom to the col. Some evidence of down tracks near valley bottom, but no skin track up this morning.
Trail breaking was ankle/boot top the whole way, but the reward was significant. There were some large wet slides near valley bottom, and a small point release off the climbers right cliffs, but otherwise no signs of instability on the route. We had excellent powder skiing on the headwall and creamy powder skiing all the way to the bottom.
The weather started foggy but the cloud lifted throughout the morning. Light came in and out on the descent, but we managed to avoid having to ski down during the flat light periods.
One other party of 2 came up to the final headwall but transitioned below while we were at the col.
Ski out was warm and sunny, but not isothermal by 2pm. </p>
Mike M,
Saturday 15th April, 2023 3:10PM
Whyte/Niblock Col
<p>Great travel, old tracks were mainly covered on the approach, thin crust up to the road, in the woods it softer, soft snow all the way to the Col. </p>
JeffMcK,
Thursday 13th April, 2023 4:10PM
Good skiing up on high norths
Ken BÉLANGER_Elevation Guides,
Saturday 8th April, 2023 8:30PM
Crusty enough to stop at the triangle
<p>Had a tour to Whymper N col. Got to just beside the last pitch ( triangle) and pulled it due to a combination of low energy and wind-effect crustiness. Did not see and consolidation but the crust did seem to become more of a thing as we moved further up the col.
Fun run down - heard some happy singing from the guys who skied the X couloir.
Bear in mind with any new snow the top of the col could have a new layer that it sits on.
Skies were a solid cloud. Temp in chickadee was probably at or just above 0. On the slopes it stayed below zero.
Things felt stable and there are a few fans to cross in the upper bowl, with some debris ( chunks) that can grab a ski.
Still , a good day out - only 4 people up yesterday.
Last thing - the up track is on the right side currently , which provides alot of opportunities to nail switch backs- also getting slick lower down.
</p>
jhowseyyc,
Saturday 8th April, 2023 8:30AM
Surprise Pass Lookers Right
<p>Skied most of the feature that faces North/NNE to the lookers right of Surprise Pass. At 2400m we came across a layer with denser snow sitting on top. I had done several previous hand shears lower down and they didn’t seem too bad or really raise any concerns. The one at 2400m came off in a solid chunk quite easily so we turned around. It looked a bit thinner higher up as well. Great skiing. Surprise pass was skied a couple of times today and yesterday.
</p>
tim,
Tuesday 4th April, 2023 3:00PM
Whymper N Col
<p>Beauty morning skiing the Whymper N col run. 10-15cm ski pen on the upper slopes, mostly from new snow overnight. Weather was cloudy with occasional flurries. Winds calm-light. No signs of instability apart from a bit of minor sloughing. </p>
mark.wizinsky,
Saturday 1st April, 2023 2:00PM
Whymper avalanche
Parks Canada Visitor Safety,
Tuesday 28th March, 2023 2:20PM
Upper Chickadee Valley
<p>Beautiful morning/day to be out for some exercise. 160 cm snow height at turnaround spot. Week old snow still skied decent on East aspects. Stayed away from south facing lower slide paths off Boom Mountain as too much sun affect. Steeper North-East aspects at top end of valley looked inviting ... but stayed clear as numerous recent instabilities from past week are present and exposure remains.</p>
bcteleski,
Sunday 19th March, 2023 6:00PM
Narao Lower Glades
<p>Took a friend halfway up Narao for a safe backcountry intro. The skin track was very tracked out and difficult at times but it was definitely worth it.
The tree glades were really fun with fresh sugarlike snow, no cohesion, no slab, about 1m deep. Nice fun and sunny day sheltered in the trees.</p>
katherine.hanak,
Sunday 12th March, 2023 9:30PM