Manning

Lots of sluffing on steeper slopes. Storm slab is obviously super dry and fluffy and not bonded well to snowpack. Nothing too much to worry about, but lots of loose dry natural releases on most aspects

Great skiing on a mostly cloudy day up at Mt Kelly. We kept to gentle slopes, and didn't see any obvious signs of avy danger. It snowed off and on while we were on the mountain, never heavy.

15-20cm of soft powder on most aspects and in trees. Wind affected at peak/ridgetop. Great tree skiing on the west slope of Bojo down to Poland Lake. The lake was frozen over but the ice was very soft and slushy.

-2C at the car at 9am. Mixed sun and cloud. Straightforward skin up though the alder was thick in places. Solid rain crust most of the way up. Crust slowly softened up/disappeared above ~1850m. Upper ridge was very wind pressed. Skied about 5-10cm preserved powder above 1950m. Anything below that was very wet and heavy on the way down. 0C at the car at 3pm.

South facing aspects above tree line were wind scoured with icey patches. A quick pit was dug at about 1880m. We had not seen any signs of any instability at all prior to the dig. The quick column test noted about 20 cm storm snow (one finger snow) on a thick ice crust that was very touchy. Noted that during the test that with more force applied to the compression that the storm snow layer reacted and slid and this propagated through to a second crust layer another 20-30 cm down. Because of the reactivity down to this second deeper crust we changed our goals of riding some steeper pitches off the summit. We elected for careful terrain selection on the way down and none in our group triggered anything at all. We did avoid steep slopes as a result of the test.

No avalanche activity observed. Dry snow above 1500 m.

A couple new cms new in 24hrs at the parking lot, seemed like reasonable lower density snow. Then at roughly 1600m, all of the sudden the recent snow (increased to about 10cms) became wet and sticky. Was there an isolated temperature inversion? Or did the temperature just rise that fast? It was a very sudden change and was a surprise. I distinctly remember being kind of excited after observing and feeling the snow just ten mins prior, thinking our turns were going to be better than expected. Air temp recorded at the summit was -2. Snow was not as bad near the summit but the best snow in the morning hours seemed to be at the bottom, oddly enough. By afternoon, all areas 1700m and lower had seen temps rise to near 0 so all became sticky. Crust was present under new snow until about 1700m. Winds were moderately gusty at the summit but didn't see it moving snow.

Northern slope, cut left at 1750m and headed up a steep on 35-40dg to avoid sun exposed slope on the right. Heard a loud whumpf as we were reaching the ridge. Hurried to a safe zone above very quickly. Reached the summit safely but heard another loud whumpf below us on the descent. Decided to take a different line down in the trees that proved to be the best option. On our way down saw evidence of a naturally triggered small slab slide at 1850m with visible crown fracture and zone of deposition below from another small slide.

Took a meander through the Fat Dog trail, stayed below treeline. Clear skies last night with below freezing temps caused surface hoar to form over the crust in this area. Not much sun today and calm winds so it may very well be staying long enough to be buried in some of the snow coming in the next 48hrs in "treeline" and "below treeline". Amounts dont look like big snow totals but something to beware of as we start seeing 20cms and more cover this layer. Forecast was for calm conditions near alpine as well over the last 24hrs so I would say it is a safe bet that there was some surface hoar development in transition zones from treeline to alpine.

Did not ride any slopes today, just went to check out conditions and attempt to get to the summit. Unfortunately several down trees, about 8-10 in the first half of the ascent route made for interesting detours. Fortunately, another group was ahead of me and broke trail (ski pen was 30cm minimum in some areas) and made these detours slightly easier. They won't be as bad with another couple storms to cover up some gaps between the smaller trees. At least a couple of these down trees will need at least 2.5 meters more to cover them up. Most of the others should be covered in a few weeks as long as we don't get any long dry spells. With avi danger rated high at all elevations, was very cautious as I approached the gully crossing. But no recent avalanche signs were present. I noticed the group ahead of me tried a couple ski cuts in small, low consequence but steeply convexed slopes and triggered nothing. Finding good ski/snowboard lines might be a little tricky still and more coverage would be better.

Blower pow on certain aspects above 1800m. Wind affected and slabby. Had to chose the line very carefully. 1700m and below had chunky ice which made travel BTL borderline dangerous. Creeks are opening up and travel will become very difficult in appx 1 week.

Ski up the highway that is Fat Dog trail. Crusty conditions from bottom to treeline, particularly in sun affected areas. Some light snow in shaded areas and treeline. Light wind leading on northern aspects at treeline and above. Spring has come to Manning Park and despite light snow all day little was accumulating on the ground.

There was a powder layer on top of a crust that got more reactive during the day. We observed pinwheeling and stuffing. Would avoid the backcountry if there is heavy snowfall or warming. Tree bombs were starting to fall.

Skied NE and SE aspects BTL with good quality snow, slight wind effect right at ridge top. 215cm HS at 1700m, and 145cm at 1400m. Pit at NE aspect at 1700m had 70cm overtop of crust. CTE SP down 10, CTM RP down 45 in 1F, and CTH RP on the crust. Chilly at -15c in morning warming up to -10c.

Several test slopes showed no results climbing up the trail. Frequent tree-bombs and pinwheeling

a good 30 or so cms if storm total since Friday jan 29. Breaking above the tree line, wind effect becomes evident and the ridge winds were quite blustery with on and off periods of snow all day. Top 30 - 40cms is VERY reactive. A hasty pit fractured at 40cms at the moment i put my hand behind the block, without needing to pull. Me and my buddy completed 3 compression tests, all 3 fractured between 25-30cms, the first fractured on just 3 wrist taps. These were done on wind effected south/southwest slopes. We were the only ones up on this day, besides one fellow who stayed overnight Sunday to Monday. We did not see any avalanche or signs of recent avalanches. Down low in the trees lots of sluffing off the trees on the way back as the temp there warmed up to probably plus 1 or 2. We did see a couple down tracks on Burnt Knoll likely from the weekend that did not appear to realese any slides.

Skied shelted north and east facing glades along Skyline 1 trail in Manning Park from strawberry flats. A few inches of fresh on a hard crust from down low up to about 1500m. Substantially more storm snow (40cm) in open and gladed areas at treeline. Light to moderate snow fell the entire day into the evening. Upper 20cm most recent snow was very reactive during testing (ECT2) and skiing, but did not show signs of propagation. A few skier triggered sluffs were easily set off in the top 20cm with hard turns in open and unsupported slopes.

Visited Mt. Kelly in search of some quick turns following reports of good snow last weekend. Can confirm a crust exists up to ~1700-1800m. We found 10-20cm of softer snow at higher elevations. We also found the existence of surface hoar. We descended NE facing open glades from the summit for about 200m. The snow felt stable and well bonded.

Below 1700m pole test consistently results in 2-5cm dust, 2cm breakable crust, 10cm fluff, then firm. Crust disappears at about 1800m and by 1900m there is a very nice 30cm of medium density powder in wind sheltered areas. Windward and exposed areas not sheltered are highly wind affected with ski penetration often being 0cm on ridgeline.

Camped from Dec 31st to Jan 2nd. Only a few cm of new snow fell during our stay. Wind transport saw significant redistribution of snow at or near ridgelines. We skied laps between 1800 and 2000m. Treed windward slopes still good skiing but getting firmer as the winds picked up. Wind protected slopes are deep and soft. We did not ski any wind loaded slopes. Snowpack felt increasingly more settled over the duration of our trip. No notable snowpack reactivity.

Lots of large pinwheels forming from slough. Snow was extremely sticky.

Seasonal temps and conditions, but very bony down low (below treeline is below threshold for avalanches and I wouldn't think about going off-trail at lower elevations). Marginal travel conditions at treeline... still needs another dump or two.

Went for a ski tour in the Mt. Outram area today. Started skinning from 900m on 10cms of solid MFcr and got to the newest snow line at 1100m. By 1750m there was 15cm on top of the dec.9 crust and a total HS of 130cm. There was a well settled base and no new avalanches to report. Ski quality was good above 1700m but still bony... 3mm SH on the F hardness HN, high overcast with a few sunny breaks, light SE winds at ridgeline and slightly below freezing all day.

Dust on crust below 1400 m. Powder on crust between 1400 m and the top of the logging slash. About 15 cm of powder on crust above 1600 m. Wind effected snow on the ridge line leading to the summit of the doughnut hole.

There’s a crust 60cm down. Was getting soft slab results when jumping on super small convexities and unsupported slopes. We were concerned about the sun slabbing things up but it never came out in full force.

Climbed up the SE ridge of Mt Kelly from Cambie Creek (not good enough coverage to tempt skiing back down) and returned via the Telecom Road to Allison Pass (better skiing). Climbing up the ridge there was about 10-15cm of new snow sitting on top of a thin soft crust. Up along the ridge there was about 30cm new snow with windloaded pockets up to 60cm; above the Big Ben gully area we experienced a small, localized whump. Skiing down from our high point, some sluff while skiing but no slab formation was apparent.

No Na observed. 1-2m cracking at skis in unsupported microfeatures. Base of Manning resort had approx. 4cm HST, snow quality improved at 1700m where overnight precip fell as snow. Top of Grassy was surprisingly dry and low density, estimated HST of 15.