North Bulkley

We rode Seaton today to investigate new snow totals, wind slab and of course to check in on our Jan 26th persistent weak layer (PWL). Getting out of the meadows it didn't take us long to gain some observations on the PWL. We found the main trail line covered in debris from a size 2.5 avalanche that we suspect ran in the warming event between Friday and Sunday on the Jan 26th facets. We also saw numerous wind slabs out of NE alpine terrain ranging in size from 1-2. Climbing higher we found the crust from the recent warming event being supportive to 1500m and tapering above. It was still present in our pit location at 1950m but at that point it was no more than 2cm and breakable. In testing we had no results in an extended column test but did have a moderate result in a compression test down 45cm on graupel as well as a moderate deep tap test failing sudden planar the Jan 26th layer. Although the Jan 26th PWL has slide or withstood the warm up on solar aspects, we believe at higher elevations and Northerly aspects this layer has yet to be tested in a meaningful way. Don't take it off the radar just yet. We found 30cm of fresh snow above 1600m but unfortunately lacked the visibility to play in it. We appreciate the volume of recent MINS and would love to see them keep rolling in as we bring our field season to a close in the coming days.

Went after some bigger objectives today, snow held up its end of the bargain. A relatively mixed bag of snow quality out there. Solar aspects were getting cooked, and we were greeted by some huge pinwheels, one at 30cm diamete on our initial ascent. Decided to ski some North aspect lines away from the sun effect. Quite a bit of wind effect on all other aspects, wind crusts, textured surfaces and hard slab exists on some north aspects above 1500m, hard to get an edge in at times on the descents, but a NE aspect line at 1800m had the best skiing quality of the day. A solar aspect at the end of the day at 1500m was hot mush. Wind was in and out, close to 0⁰c around 1300, closer to -5⁰c higher in the Alpine. Did not encounter any weak layers between a 20-30cm deep crust and the overlying crumbling wind affect layers on top, more cohesion in the upper layer of dense snow on a S aspect at 1800m.

We keep saying it but its still winter up there. Snow was moist from daytime warming at 1200m but above 1400m winter still has a strong grasp. We found 20cm of fresh snow that had been redistributed by moderate to strong South West winds and some great riding quality for the start of April. The visibility was in and out today but we did observed two size 1.5 natural wind slabs out of lee (N/NE) alpine slopes. In our test profile we had no results in an extended column test and found the Jan 26th facet/crust combo down 170 in this location. Great day zooming around the meadows and with moments of sunshine!

snowmobile remote triggered windslab

Today we rode out at Seaton. Two very different experiences depending on aspect skied. Weather cloudy with some sunny breaks. Ridgetop winds were minimal >10km/h - it was refreshing not to to have to rush our transitions. Our first lap we skied up the SE side of the basin. We observed about a 1cm solar crust with about 15cm of ski penetration. We were interested in finding the early Feb hoar frost so we dug a pit at 1550m. Snow depth was 3+ meters. That early feb faceted layer was about 125cm down with 5cm of freshi on top. We conducted an ECT with no results. Overall the the snowpack is well consolidated until the depth hoar layer. This seems to jive with persistent slab problem in the reported in the bulletin. Our second lap we ventured over to Seaton ridge where the riding conditions were excellent. We skied just under the ridge - a north aspect. No solar crust observed here. Some wind deposition, but we didn't experience any slabbiness. Overall, nice conditions.

Crew of 6 zipped up into the seaton bowl to do soke sled laps in the sunshine! We where rewarded with lovely firmer "bouncy" powder on more southern aspects with minimal wind effect, and had some nice soft boot top powder in the treed sections facing more north eastern that stayed sheltered from wind. We saw the two obvious big avalanches as soon as we got into the meadows, and seeing just how new they where and how my dry loose had been coming off the steepest sections in the alpine we decided to stay entirely out of they're way. Kept overhead hazard to nothing and stuck to mellow supported terrain. The largest avy popped from a cornice break, and continued stepping down to likely the PWL, ran out as far as it could into the bowl. The smaller one fractured on its own, likely from the weight of wind loading on thin snowpack. Good to finally have some visibility to see what is/ isn't moving after the recent storm cycle!

Checked out the Blunt on Saturday. Sled pen was easily 40cm but ski pen on the skin track only about 10-15cm, making for pleasant travel once our group of novice sledders parked and started walking. Observed strong wind affect in the alpine, with numerous size 1-2.5 slab avalanches on all aspects, older than 24 hours and many crowns filled in wind transport. Observed one mega cornice break that triggered below to rip to ground (see photo) - we estimated the crown at over 2m, which is notable for the Bulkley Valley! Surface hoar forming (1-3mm) in treeline to alpine. No signs of instability underfoot while skinning however when the sun was strong it started to cook the top layer of snow on solar aspects, which skied great for a lap (springy!!) but we avoided those slopes for the rest of the day. I’d anticipate an intermittent sun crust today. We kept it pretty mellow and cruised enjoyable low to moderate angle slopes in the sun and little trees. Added bonus, the cut blocks at the bottom skied fantastically!

Rode Seaton in the afternoon and had some better visibility at times to get up into the alpine. Visibility was more of a limiting factor than managing terrain for avalanche hazard. Surface conditions were lighter in the morning with some gentle stiffening of the snow from greenhouse-ing and warmer temperatures later in the day. Saw a little wind slab, but didn't see any other signs of recent(last 48 hours) avalanche activity. See photos for image of the windslab and snow coverage in the alpine.

Big slide out of Seaton. We found a size 3 natural wind slab avalanche out of north facing alpine terrain today and that set the tone for us. We suspect this was a cornice failure triggering wind slab and additionally stepping down to the Jan 26 crust/facet complex in numerous places. We suspect this ran on Saturday or Sunday. We kept to simple low angle terrain and even in doing this we remote triggered a size 1.5 on a North aspect at tree line simply by driving the sled within 150m of the slope. If this isn't enough warning we were also met with numerous loud whumpfs and propagating test results down 85 on the Jan 26th layer. Keep it simple out there and enjoy the fresh snow in the meadows and low angle terrain while this weak layer shakes itself out.

Nearly reset at Seaton. 10cm of fresh snow at 15km kept the sleds cool as we made our way into Seton basin. snow totals increased as we climbed and seemed to top out at 40cm above the Jan 26 crust at 1580m. Great to see this much new snow out here but with the winds, snow depths remain variable and it was a toss up between deep powder and lightly dusted melt freeze crust exposed in last weeks out flow winds. It was stormy today and during our field work we gained another 5cm of snow with moderate gusting to strong south west winds continuing to build wind slabs in lee features. Anywhere we ventured with wind effect resulted in whumpfing and cracking. In testing we had no results in our extended column test but did have a moderate result in a compression test down 20cm on facets and a hard result down 40 just below the top of the Jan 26 melt freeze crust facet combo. Nearly reset but some more snow would be nice to avoid feeling the old rain runnels.

Late report: great day on Saturday above the morning valley fog with blue skis, moderate winds and cold temps. Sled skied the majority of the basin but avoided ridge features that had been and were being actively loading from the variable wind directions. Breakable crust / wind pressured surfaces with 15-20cm facets below in the alpine. Cornices along the seaton ridge are very large, noticed multiple size 1 from small cornice failures. (northerly aspects). Saw roughly size 3 avalanche in Q ball area, crown about 400m and ran 1.2 km, likely from Thursday or Friday. Debris ran full path likely due to the crust layer.

Winter is coming back to Seaton! We gambled that the right amount of snow had fallen at Seaton and we won. We found about 20 cm of powder on the prolonged drought crust. It snowed pretty consistently throughout the day, there was no evidence of consolidation in the new snow, and no wind effect at tree line or the Hogsback ridge line. There was (unsurprisingly) poor cohesion between the fresh snow and the crust. It skied pretty well, but was vicious trying to set an up track. There were lots of whumps as we traversed along the top of the Hogsback, but didn’t see any other snowpack instability. It was -4C at the truck in the morning and -2C when we got back in the late afternoon. The road in gets pretty rowdy as soon as you get past where they stopped plowing near km 14.

Today we rode Seaton to investigate the freezing levels after the warm precipitation event we've been experiencing this week. Leaving the truck the snow was isothermal and if you got off the trail, down went the skis. Gaining elevation to 1300m we found with the long wave radiation over night, the rain effected snow had been refrozen even though the temps were well above freezing. It seems that 1800m was the rain/snow line. Below 1800m is a 2cm breakable rain crust and above held 10cm of snow overlying this crust, it seems the storm arrived warm and wet and finished colder and drier. With this storm came a natural avalanche cycle. Numerous wet loose and wet slab avalanches released in steep terrain on all aspects between tree line and alpine, with one to size 2.5 These avalanches all seemed to have run on our previous crust layer from Jan 26. In testing we got no results on an extended column test but did get hard results in a compression tests on basal facets in the bottom 45cm of the snow pack. This test location was a N aspect with only 110cm of snow. This is our first time seeing these facets this season and its certainly one to keep in mind in thin rocky areas. Its not spring yet, even if it feels like it out there.

Lower road is in rough shape. Counted 7 open creek crossings and there may have been more. Observed 3x natural cornice falls into the north bowl (above the lakes) which triggered wind slabs approximately 40cm deep and 50m wide on the slopes below. The wind slab appeared well-developed from recent SW winds. 6-20cm Rain / melt freeze crust present from the hwy to ridge top. HS 240cm @ 1600m We camped on the ridge and temps didn’t drop below 0* in the alpine from Saturday 14:00 - Sunday 14:00 Wolverine in the area! Followed his tracks to the summit. Very cool.

Today we skied Skilokis to observe the state of the wind effect and boy did we find it. We observed an average snow pack depth of 130cm, the lowest snowpack we have found so far this season, likely due to being in the lee of the Hazelton ranges. Although it is the far reaches of the Bulkley Valley, the forest is Bulkley Valley all the same. We battled our way through tight trees and ice hard tree bombs up to 1400m where the tree bombs and melt freeze crust subsided. Reaching ridge top we found moderate gusting to strong winds from the SW with significant wind effect on all exposed terrain. Being the devision of two valleys this location sees varying winds as well as significant down slope flow on its NE face. Its not all doom and gloom as we found terrain unexposed to wind holding soft snow with 15cm ski pen.....until we were reunited with the tree bombs and tree skiing we all know to well.

The times they are a changing, from -20 to -1.4 things are certainly different out there. We battled through rain drops on the road to Seaton today after parking at 4km with poor road conditions due to discontinued plowing. We found the freezing level at 1250M, a high of -1.4 in the alpine, gusting moderate and 10cm of new snow overlying heavily wind effected surfaces and old tracks. With poor visibility and the new snow making observations was challenging but we did see a size 1.5 natural on a South aspect at tree line. We suspect this failed with the rising temperatures on Sunday. Our snowpack tests yielded a moderate result on a storm snow interface down 30cm but had no results on the November 24 PWL. With this warm weather and new snow on the way its a shift for the snowpack and our mindset so we kept to mellow terrain while we seek further observations.

We found 15 to 20 cm of new snow, that has accumulated over the past few days, which sits on top of firm older surfaces. It was raining below 1100 m. There is some wind effect in this new snow from continued southwest winds. We saw several small loose avalanches release on steep, rocky slopes today when the sun came out. Otherwise we didn’t see any new avalanches. In a snow profile at 1750 m on a northeast facing slope, we found a layer of weak, sugary crystals (facets) 55 cm deep that was reactive in snowpack tests. This layer may prolong the reactivity of wind slabs, making them human-triggerable for longer than usual. We avoided steep, wind loaded slopes and found some good sled turns despite the firm surface below the new snow.

Stormy conditions at Seaton today. Not much wind but snowing heavily. Found an interesting snow interface in a hasty snow pit at 1500m on a sheltered NW aspect: at 20cm depth, a hard crust with 3-4cm of facets overtop. The new storm snow overtop wasn't yet stiff enough to form a slab, so not concerning today, but could be concerning in the future. CTE 2, sudden collapse, and no results on an ECT. You could feel the facets collapsing on this layer beneath your feet on the up track. We skied enjoyable trees all day in the fresh snow and celebrated a return to winter conditions.

There was evidence of a widespread avalanche cycle in the area - not suprising after the high hazard and warm temperatures over the weekend. Test results on the persistent weak layer showed that it is getting more stubborn and difficult to trigger, but still has the potential to fail - creating large avalanches. The best riding was on sunny slopes after it had warmed up and melted the crust or on high elevation north facing slopes where there was still some dry snow to be found.

Saw over a dozen size 2++ to size 3 slabs in Sinclair this weekend, Crowns running hundreds of meters. Kept it well below 30 degrees;) Didnt trigger anything with the sled..

Did an overnight trip on rocher bowl the snow wasn’t providing any red flags until you stepped into isolated features that had a facets layer on the early Feb crust, size 2 slide on this layer that was roughly 50-60cms below the storm snow! Otherwise we had looked for the facet layer on open faces and less isolated features, due to wind and solar inputs on these slopes we found little no evidence of a faceted layer!

Surprised to find about 10-20cm of fresh low density snow at the blunt today. A hard surface exists below this, making for poor ski quality that was only made slightly better by the new snow. Lots of old concrete debris at the bottom of avalanche paths that's rock hard and hazardous to ski through. Some small point releases observed in steep terrain where the new snow was naturally sluffing. No wind throughout the day even at ridge top at 1600m. Was probably a bit of wind transport over night, with some soft new cornices that were easy to kick off and only about 5-10cm of new snow in exposed locations, vs the 10-20 in sheltered areas.

Surprised to find about 10-20cm of fresh low density snow at the blunt today. A hard surface exists below this, making for poor ski quality that was only made slightly better by the new snow. Lots of old concrete debris at the bottom of avalanche paths that's rock hard and hazardous to ski through. Some small point releases observed in steep terrain where the new snow was naturally sluffing. No wind throughout the day even at ridge top at 1600m. Was probably a bit of wind transport over night, with some soft new cornices that were easy to kick off and only about 5-10cm of new snow in exposed locations, vs the 10-20 in sheltered areas.

Sunshine and low hazard made for a nice day skiing a steeper line at Seaton! We didn’t see any new avalanches. We found very similar snow conditions to what we’ve seen elsewhere this week: generally wind-affected surfaces with 0 to 20 cm of snow on top of a melt-freeze crust. The sledding was challenging in the variable, firmer conditions, but the skiing in the alpine where the crust was supportive was great!

Today we sledded into the Seaton Basin and went ski touring. Our day started out with sledding in the rain but a few kilometers down the road it turned to snow. There was up to 5 cm over the old melt freeze crust which made the skiing tolerable above 1300m. Below this elevation the snow is soft, wet and stepping off the trail is not advised. We saw a couple small wind slab avalanches out of steep NE alpine terrain that happened today . We also saw an older wet loose size 2.5 avalanche that likely happened 24-72 hours ago, occurring on a steep south facing treeline feature.

SAR training day in East Boulder area. We traveled through a several basins BTL (~1350m) to upper TL (~1650m) on generally northeasterly through southeasterly aspects. Visibility precluded alpine travel or alpine observations. Winds light in the morning but increasing throughout the day (as a cold front moved through?) finishing with moderate to strong southerlies. Temperatures started about -2 cooling slightly through the day. Sky was obscured throughout, with very light snow and minimal accumulation. ------------- HST from last 48hr only ~5cm. Old surfaces highly variable: where exposed to outflows the old surface was faceted pencil hard windboard. Elevation and location of these exposed outflow surfaces varied significantly depending on local topography, not always intuitive where it would be. Where not exposed to outflows BTL in open trees, ski pen was ~20cm with a very faint (humidity, temp?) crust below the recent HST. Good skiing in these sheltered locations. --------------- One hasty snow pit at 1500m on a sheltered NE aspect showed HS ~130cm with ECTX and CTH down ~80. Some preserved surface hoar from Nov was identified, but no test results on that layer. Snowpack heavily faceted and variable depth. ---------------- In the morning, recent storm snow was not showing slab properties. By mid afternoon and wind increase small touchy wind slabs 3-15cm deep were forming. We easily ski cut ~5x sz 0.5-1.0 windslabs on lee features at TL and BTL on lower avalanche paths running easily but not far on the old hard facet surfaces. Downslope winds were strong and micro features on lower avalanche paths were loading and touchy. ---------------- My take away is caution in the time ahead facing the challenge of field identification of the variable locations of a) wind depositions showing up in lower than expected and micro features, and b) variability of where those old stiff faceted outflow wind surfaces would be found and difficulty in identifying them once covered.

15 to 20 cm of recent storm snow is now overlying a rain crust and has sweetened up the skiing a lot. We got in some fun turns on northwest-facing alpine slopes and some good views between the clouds. There were no signs of new avalanches in the area and minimal wind effect. We felt a couple of whumpfs gaining ridgetop on a north-facing slope. It was shallow there, with only 30-50 cm of total snow with the whumpfing occurring due to a weak layer of facetted sugary crystals sandwiched between crusts near the base of the snowpack. We dug another quick pit at treeline and found 90cm of snow. We found the same two weak layers we have been tracking across the region down 45 and 60cm but they weren't reactive in our tests.

Today we rode Seaton basin. We've been keeping an eye on the snowpack here since the beginning of the season. While most of the NW inland has a persistent surface hoar layer down approximately 60 cm, we haven't been seeing this layer as widespread or reactive in the Seton area. Today's snow profiles had no significant results. There were a few old (48-72 hrs), small, loose point release avalanches out of steep terrain that didn't pull out any slabs and acted as good slope tests. These results gave us the confidence to move and play in more complex terrain. The snow was good and the riding was fun. Braaap braaap

N aspects skied well with 8cm of new snow on the existing firm snow surface. S aspects at treeline skied ok with new snow sitting on a thin breakable crust. Snow depth ranged from 45cm on N aspect at 1650m to 100cm in sheltered N aspect at treeline. Crusty and sporty below treeline. We did not observe sign of recent instability but we did have to dance around old tree bombs and pinwheels on most slopes from the previous warming cycle. Temps remained just below freezing and winds were very calm all day with infrequent light gusts from the S. Continued lack of valley bottom precip may make the first couple km of sled access very exciting in the near future. The existing sheet of ice is not ideal for traction or cooling.

Some great powder riding in sheltered areas in the trees high up today. At lower elevations in the meadows, theres only 60cm, so still a bit shallow. In the alpine we found 115cm (but the depths were variable). We noticed some cracking between sled tracks and when we dug a quick test pit, found a reactive wind slab that was 25cm thick. We decided to avoid steep wind loaded alpine slopes, which wasnt hard to do as there was so much other good riding around.

April 14, 2022 Comeau to Blue Lks alpine conditions were overall covered with a 5cm freshly wind deposited soft slab reactive to skier traffic, gliding over the most recent windslab, which is about 40cm thick overlying the buried crust surface below. Observed only 1 natural 0.5 soft slab in action with boot top crown thickness originating at a convex roll, triggered by constant wind loading on northerly ridgetop elevation. Approaching storm generated on average 30km/hr wind in PM with strong gusts up to 50-70km/hr. Great overall travel condition up & down, no ski crampons needed, from ridge top to lower blue lks elevation. No whumphing, settlements, or shoot cracks observed, just the 5cm of sluff management on steep slopes as well as un-ran start zones to be cautious of.

Today we sled-skied in the Blunt Range. We had clear skies with a light westerly breeze at ridgecrest. Alpine temperatures are still below freezing. We skied a west facing slope and found good skiing conditions with 5 - 10 cm of cold snow over firm older surfaces, all the way down into the trees at 1300m. We didn't see any new avalanches. Cornices are large right now so we made sure to avoid these, travelling well back from ridgelines and not travelling underneath slopes with overhead cornice hazard.

Found amazing winter cold dry mid boot ski pen powder at the east boulder basin on all northerly aspect, on April 2nd! Decent snowpack coverage throughout compared to other low snow years below treeline. Alpine is still getting the wind so expect windward slopes to be extra wind affected/firm in the alpine and possible windslab & cornices building lee slopes. Zero signs of instability throughout the day on northerly aspect. New snow seems to bond well to the underlying firm surfaces. Avoided all south facing slope getting baked (sun crust forming below treeline) and observed some new snow avalanched in form of wet heavy goo, with southerly start zones in mid alpine originating from point releases. Enjoy the snow & blue bird!

Today we sledded at Seaton Basin. We had partly sunny skies with light southwesterly winds. We saw several new size 1-1.5 loose dry avalanches from steep alpine features. We didn’t see any other new avalanches. We saw one older size 2 wind slab from a steep, rocky, alpine northeast facing slope. The avalanche may have occurred in the last storm cycle. We dug on a north facing slope at 1600 m and found 180 cm total snow depth. There are several crusts in the middle and lower snowpack, but we got no significant test results at all. We did multiple Extended Column Tests with no results. There is 70 cm of faceted snow near the ground which we are monitoring. At the surface there is 10 cm of powder snow, or some areas that are wind affected from previous moderate northwesterly and southwesterly winds.

Today we rode at Harold Price. The recent snow and cold temps have been preserving snow in sheltered areas and making for great riding conditions at tree line and below. We ventured into the alpine and found hard wind slab on all aspects, although some sheltered places provided good riding quality. The recent wind and new snow have formed massive cornices as you will see in the attached photos. these cornices have been failing and producing avalanches on the slopes below them. We observed a size 2.5 and two size 1.5 avalanches on a north east slope at 1700m that were all triggered by cornice fall.

It was a cold, clear, sunny day up at Mount Seaton today. The trail in to the meadow is in good condition, with not too large of whoops. As we got into the meadows, we found there was evidence of wind effect that had filled the previous sledders tracks, but the snow was still quite soft for riding. When we headed further up into the bowl, we saw multiple large wind slab avalanches (size 2-2.5) that appeared to be 72 hours old on all aspects in the alpine. While there was still excellent riding to be found in sheltered areas, we stayed out of the exposed treeline and alpine due to the likelihood of wind slabs still existing and the likely poor riding conditions from the wind effected and stiff snow. In our snowpack tests in a relatively sheltered area just above the meadow we did not find any results.

Today we went sledding at Seaton Basin. It was deeeeeeeep. We saw 2 size 2 storm slab avalanches at treeline on North and Northeast facing slopes. These avalanches were 50 - 80 cm deep. We also saw cracking 30 cm deep in front of our feet when we stepped off the sleds on a small test slope at treeline. There is up to 80 cm of new snow over the Jan 25 rain crust. We avoided avalanche terrain today and made sure to stay within sight as we wanted to avoid triggering storm slab avalanches, as well as other hazards like snow immersion and treewells. We dug on a north facing slope at 1400m and found 30 cm of storm slab that failed very easily in a Compression Test (while cutting out the column). The block also failed 55 cm deep on another storm layer with easy taps (CT E 9 RP down 55 cm). Sleds were penetrating 80 - 100 cm into all the new snow and boot penetration was about 50 cm. There was continued snow throughout the day, light southerly winds and poor visibility.

Today we rode at Seaton. There was up 30 cm of new snow over the rain crust from the warm weather last week. The rain crust was unsupportive to snowmobiles and we could barely feel it while riding. We dug on North West and East facing aspects. In both pits we were able to produce easy results on the Jan 5th layer down 35cm's. We were able to produce one size 1 avalanche by walking over a 35 degree slope. Other than this we did not notice any other recent avalanches but the visibility was poor.

Today we went sledding at Seaton Basin. We saw no new avalanches, but visibility into the alpine was poor. At treeline, we found 200 cm of snow on a northeast facing slope. We dug on this slope and were able to produce propagating Extended Column Test (ECT) results 50 cm deep. Moderate southerly winds were transporting snow at ridgecrest and forming new wind slabs.

Today we found a thin, weak snowpack at 9 mile. We Dug at 1500m and had 120cm's of snow. The Jan 5th surface hoar/ facet layer was down 20 cm's from the snow surface. We observed small surface hoar and facets on this layer but produced no results during compression tests. The Dec 23rd surface hoar/facet layer was down 55cm's. Below this size 3-5mm facets dominated the bottom of the snowpack.

Dry loose avalanche on north aspect within 24 hours. 5-10cm fresh snow over yesterdays tracks with moderate transport on alpine ridge

Today we went sledding at Seaton Basin. The wind has effected both alpine and treeline slopes. At ridgecrest, many areas are stripped back to rock. There is evidence of wind from all directions with reverse and cross loading patterns. Today, winds were moderate to strong from the NW and were transporting remaining snow. We saw one older size 2 wind slab avalanche on a SE aspect at 1900m from steep rock bands, but otherwise no new avalanche activity. We dug on a SE aspect at 1700m and found 35cm of wind slab overlying older, softer snow. The slab failed easily during a Compression Test (CT) (CT E 3 RP down 35cm). We did not find any layers of note deeper in the snowpack. Total snow depth here was 200cm, but this is highly variable. The day was windy but warm, with an inversion producing 0 degree temps around 1500m.

Today we went sledding at Harold Price. We found amazing powder in all the sheltered meadows. We didn’t see any new avalanches or signs of instability (like cracking or whumpfing). At treeline there is 50cm+ of unconsolidated snow available for transport. In the alpine, there is some previous wind affect at the surface, but in general about 20cm of soft snow at the surface available for transport. We didn’t find any layers of note within the snowpack. The total height of snow is variable but about 100cm at treeline.

Today we rode in Seaton basin meadows, riding quality was excellent at treeline. We observed the alpine and saw no new avalanches but strong to extreme winds over the previous days have scoured alpine slopes. Today there were light winds through the day and trace amounts of precip We dug a snow pit at 1500M on a SE aspect. A layer of small facets down 30 cm was producing Moderate to Hard sudden planner results in compression tests, but was not propagating during extended column tests. We will be keeping track of this facet layer but are not overly concerned for the time being.

Skiing was good in sheltered snow, crust on wind effected slopes. 0-10cm ski penetration. Came across a number of glide cracks which don't appear to be too old. 3-4 crowns on steep east facing slows which appeared to be a couple days old with just a light dust on a debris fields.

Snow pack depth was very variable with lots of exposed rock on steep terrain and up to ~70cm near tree line on northeast aspects. Snow varied between faceted and wind pressed snow. A hand shear test at 1650m produced no distinct results and showed no defined layers in the snowpack (with facets making up the whole snowpack depth). No noticeable/defined crust at any observation points. Large hoar frost was observed below tree line along roads and in cut blocks, hoar frost was not observed in dense trees or above tree line. Ski quality was surprisingly good on northeast aspects and in sheltered trees where tree bombs had not refrozen.

Started the morning walking up station cr in gum boots over ice and dirt for over 1.5hrs to the old cabin site. Put skis on from there for the rest of the day. Cold and dry 30-50cm of soft powdery non slabby over buried firm crust surface from treeline all the way to peaks elevation, exists on both Station and Blue Lakes drainages. It's winter up in the Hazelton alpine, get out there b4 the powder fields switch to Spring! Also observed multiple significant recent past avy activities on a big and wide west facing slope below the upper blue lakes elevations. Thx again to Sean F. for yr flagging job from lower blue Lks to Pangea trail.