North Rockies
Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 28th, 2025Bring your skates
It’s a windy one out there, and wow has some damage been done.
We started out the day around pine pass where the extreme winds were blowing the snow off the mountains, never to touch the ground again.
We then headed towards Mackenzie for a quick trip up Morfee. The first 3 km of the road are clear blue ice, just after the switchback it changes to hard packed crusty snow. Heading up towards the ridge the crusty surface conditions continue to dominate with a few small wind drifts to be found. Once you reach the alpine, all the snow has been stripped off and the main surface is a 3 cm thick clear blue ice crust. It is also difficult to remain standing in the gusty winds. With that in mind, we went home.
northrockiesfieldteam,
Friday 28th March, 2025 1:00PM
Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 27th, 2025Wailin' winds
Hold on to your hats, and sleds, it was a windy one at Torpy today. Snow began to fall around 1 PM.
Our recent warming has built a 1 cm thick, breakable crust that is capping last weekend's snowfall. On top of this sits 6 cm of new snow that is being redistributed by strong east winds, as low as into below treeline meadows and cutblocks.
When we dug at treeline we found both the March 8 and February 20th surface hoar layers down 110 and 115 cm respectively. The March 8 layer did not produce any results in compression tests, but the February layer did consistently show hard results. We did not spot these layers when we dug in the alpine.
We noticed a little bit of cracking in wind loaded areas that indicated to us that slabs are beginning to build. However we did not see any avalanches.
The best riding could be found in sheltered areas, while the crust was not felt by sleds, it may prove more difficult for skiers.
northrockiesfieldteam,
Thursday 27th March, 2025 11:00AM
Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 26th, 2025Laglace Lake
Went into Laglace Lake with my GF today. Was tough going on trail in morning due to overheating. Once past Kakwa cabin there was 3-4” fresh. Past an avalanche in area from a couple days ago on way to lake and with the warm temps and sun staid in trees and open meadows. Spring like conditions but still had a great day!!
nicholas.juryn,
Wednesday 26th March, 2025 12:00PM
Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Wind Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Mar 25th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 24th, 2025ToqueTime
Thursday we saw wet loose avalanches and some pin wheeling on south west slopes in the alpine. South slopes looked wind scoured and North slopes looked wind loaded with cornices.
Friday we found an unbreakable crust on a south facing slope with 5cm of fresh snow, then skied the remainder of the day on north facing slopes with deep right side up snowpack. We dug a pit at the top of a north facing couloir, 1850m, right side up snowpack, CTE 5cm (storm snow) SP, CTH 50cm RP. The 5cm storm snow did propagate when skied. We stayed above 1550m all day.
Saturday there was 5cms of new snow. We skied the same north aspect but more open terrain without any activity.
Sunday another 5cms of new snow. We skied steep trees between 1300-1650m on a NE aspect. There were no signs of activity and the lightest + deepest snow.
Monday another 20cms of new snow. The turns home were really good.
Lots of clouds, lots of snow, lots of sun, lots of calm, lots of wind.
shnaytoface,
Sunday 23rd March, 2025 6:00PM
Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Persistent Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Mar 23rd, 2025Better than decent
Great day in Calzon, snow is better than expected and we had so many first tracks! Winter’s definitely not over yet.
dave,
Sunday 23rd March, 2025 12:17PM
Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 22nd, 2025Crust to pow
Some loose avalanches were observed today in steep terrain on solar aspects. Riding quality went from riding crust at lower elevations to deep powder up top. We stayed away from ridge crests due to the active snow being transported and loading slopes. The best snow was found at tree line in sheltered areas.
Trapper Gilowski,
Saturday 22nd March, 2025 11:00AM
Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 21st, 2025Good Views and Sunshine
Hasler got a little bit of snow overnight and moderate winds were blowing it onto North to East facing slopes. We checked the windslab on some small Treeline rollovers and found just good riding. We still stayed out of large Alpine terrain were the wind slabs were harder and bigger. The best powder was in meadows and trees sheltered from the wind. Today was warm and when the sun came out in the afternoon the surface snow turned moist.
northrockiesfieldteam,
Thursday 20th March, 2025 5:00PM
Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 20th, 2025Another breezy day
At Core Lodge we found good powder riding at Treeline, away from the wind. We dug down into the snowpack and found a thick melt-freeze crust down 30cm that was well bonded to the layers around it. Our snow profile showed no concerning test results and a strengthening snowpack. In the Alpine strong winds were scouring west-facing slopes, building windslabs below ridge crests and rollovers. We saw one small windslab avalanche from today or yesterday.
northrockiesfieldteam,
Wednesday 19th March, 2025 5:00PM
Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 19th, 2025Powder Hunt
When we drove out this morning to Pine Pass we had questions about windslabs and lingering weak layers (surface hoar). At Mount West we observed wind affected snow in the alpine and moderate winds building fresh slabs later in the day. In sheltered areas we found deep powder and great riding. Digging down into the snowpack at Treeline we found buried surface hoar down 35 cm and 70 cm. With this in mind, we stayed away from large terrain and had fun riding small slopes and treed rolls.
northrockiesfieldteam,
Tuesday 18th March, 2025 5:00PM
Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 18th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 17th, 2025Core Lodge area Mar 17
We skied the Core Lodge area on some north facing slopes. There was 25 cm of storm snow on the previous wind crust, and it was bonded well to the crust. Very little wind effect on the snow made for really good skiing. We didn't see any instabilities, even on convex rolls. Once the winds pick up, there is plenty of soft snow that will be loading the lee slopes.
ksharman,
Monday 17th March, 2025 11:00AM
Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 16th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs.
Published: Mar 15th, 2025Connecting Dots
Pushing tracks deep in the backcountry.
Stayed away from alpine slopes and wind affected areas.
Some significant differences in the snow conditions throughout several valleys.
Mainly rode on North facing ridges and convex slopes
We did see a small natural wind slab slide that appeared to be old at the top of a high elevation ridge.
rmodde2004,
Saturday 15th March, 2025 12:00AM
Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs.
Published: Mar 14th, 2025Noon crew
Today we found pockets of instabilities with shooting cracks in the wind affected snow varying from 10-25cm deep. The recent storm snow is sitting on a crust down 20-30cm depending on aspect. We also found pockets of really good snow. No recent avalanches were noted. The variable winds have loaded all aspects at ridge tops. Best riding was found in dense trees or areas sheltered from the wind.
Trapper Gilowski,
Friday 14th March, 2025 12:00PM
Tommy Take Two
Another good day of storm riding. We tested the layer below the recent snow and had the layer propagate across the column on the 2nd tap from the elbow during an extended column test. Winds were moderate out of the northeast today; we saw 2 natural avalanches on north aspects in the alpine. With these observations logged in the field book and our minds, we enjoyed exploring simple terrain with enough face shots to go around.
northrockiesfieldteam,
Thursday 13th March, 2025 5:00PM
Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs.
Published: Mar 13th, 2025Tree laps all day
Some whumpfing in low angle sheltered open tree and cracks shooting out 3 feet off the nose of the board. Saw signs of multiple small WL & WS all SA and in wind loaded steeps. Thick sun crust on solar aspects about 20cm deep
steidelthomas,
Thursday 13th March, 2025 8:30AM
Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs.
Published: Mar 12th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 11th, 2025Tommy Trails, Turns & Trees
It was a beautiful day in Tommy Creek. The clouds lifted and we had views and some sunshine between small passing flurries. The winds we from the south and blowing enough to move a moderate amount of snow at ridge top. There was about 55 cm of soft storm snow at treeline over a supportive snowpack.
We saw numerous avalanches in wind-loaded alpine terrain. While these were mostly small (size 1), there were some that would be big enough to bury a person (size 2). After stopping to talk about it, we decided we did not like the regular pull into Tommy 2 (a large NW facing feature recently wind loaded) given the current considerable avalanche hazard. Instead, we opted to have fun building our own single track through the trees to get into the saddle and found deep, untouched powder as a reward in the small rolls and mellow terrain of Tommy 2.
It looks like the storm rolled in warm when it dropped it's snow. Below 1700 m there was a rain crust in the middle of the new snow and below 1400 m there was a sharp decrease in the snowpack. By the time we got down to the trucks at 1100m we were riding on ice over mud.
northrockiesfieldteam,
Tuesday 11th March, 2025 1:00PM
Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm 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 8th, 2025Powder King slack country
gmillroy81,
Saturday 8th March, 2025 2:00PM
Where is all the big snow?
5cm of storm snow overlies a crust hardly noticeable under the sleds. Best riding was found around 1600-1350m on NE aspects in sheltered terrain. Wind exposed areas were hard packed and made for terrible riding. The odd small shooting crack was observed on test slopes.
No new avalanches were noted but there were several old slides of note. Snowpack is pretty well set up and we could go pretty much anywhere.
Minimal wind transported snow winds were light with moderate gusts from the SW. mild temps today coldest recorded temp was -2 at TL and plus 2 in the valley bottom. Snow was intermittent throughout the day totalling 1-2cm. Scattered clouds in the morning becoming overcast in the afternoon.
Overall good day riding. Hopefully we get another reset in Hasler.
Trapper Gilowski,
Saturday 8th March, 2025 1:00PM
Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Storm Slabs.
Published: Mar 7th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 7th, 2025Storm brewing
On the ride out of Kakwa we saw stormy weather moving in. The wind was gusting and snow was blowing off peaks. In the trees there was noticable less snow then when we rode in as a result of the recent warm temperatures.
The new snow in the forecast will be falling on a variety of surfaces including hard wind scoured snow in the Alpine, a melt-freeze crust Treeline down and pockets of surface hoar in sheltered areas.
northrockiesfieldteam,
Friday 7th March, 2025 3:00PM
A wheelie good time in Kakwa
We noticed the wind start in the morning, and a couple of hours later, we saw a size two avalanche in extreme terrain. As the wind increased through the day, we saw snow blowing off ridges, and
lee slopes loading in the Alpine and Treeline.
Today, we saw lots of terrain, had fun and avoided the avalanche hazard by riding low-angle terrain and small slopes.
northrockiesfieldteam,
Thursday 6th March, 2025 6:00PM
Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 6th, 2025Fun in the Sun
Firm snow and a beautiful day allowed us to travel far. We are still seeing persistent weak layers in snowpack tests. So we're avoiding shallow snow and sledding on either small slopes or low angle features. We saw loose snow avalanches out of steep rocky solar aspects. No wind and lots of sun today.
northrockiesfieldteam,
Wednesday 5th March, 2025 7:00PM
Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 5th, 2025Core Lodge area
Tried some north facing slopes near the Core Lodge. The alpine was very wind blown, but there was some shallow powder topped with surface hoar near tree line and in the trees. Felt very solid underfoot. We saw a large old slab, probably from a cornice collapse, along the ridge line to the south. Some melt freeze crust at lower elevations.
ksharman,
Wednesday 5th March, 2025 11:00AM
Cruise with Good Views
Today we rode into Kakwa and didn't get above 1500m. But the views were excellent and we saw lots of loose wet avalanches from the past couple days and some old windslab crowns. South to west facing ridges were scoured to rock and all the Alpine snow looked wind affected. At valley bottom we felt a 5cm surface crust setting up. Deeper in the snowpack, down 20cm, we saw a thick ice crust. The persistent weak layer that has been keeping us in mellow terrain was down 40cm. The temperatures were warm, the sun was shining and the wind was calm.
northrockiesfieldteam,
Tuesday 4th March, 2025 6:00PM
Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 4th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 3rd, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 2nd, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 2nd, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 1st, 2025Heavy and wet
Got test results on the old storm snow interface from last week, full failures in the extended column test. New snow seems well bonded at treeline, it’s coming in very wet and sticking well, although likely wind slabs could exist higher than 1600, we just didn’t see any.
Definitely have a point with that SPAW, stay safe out there!
dave,
Saturday 1st March, 2025 11:00AM
SPAW
With a SPAW in effect, as well as avalanche activity and significant test results all week, we made the choice to ride simple terrain away from overhead hazard. At Mount West we found lots of powder in sheltered mellow terrain. In exposed terrain we found signs of wind effect and denser, stiffer snow. Today the winds were light.
In snow profile tests we had significant results on a weak layer of surface hoar buried 68 centimeters. A 20 centimetre wind slab also showed up in our tests.
In the Alpine, on lee slopes, we saw signs of recent avalanche activity to size 2.
The temperature was still warm, -3 at Treeline and we got some sun in the afternoon.
northrockiesfieldteam,
Friday 28th February, 2025 4:00PM
Mount West
Fresh tracks into mount west today, 6-8” fresh snow on top of a fairly compacted base. Melting/raining in parking lot but still below zero up top. Snow was sticky. Top ~4” layer of snow was reactive on hills and steeper aspects when disturbed, observed many cracks and small breaks. Lots of wind drift snow and flat light/cloud cover.
devonbeebe4,
Thursday 27th February, 2025 9:00PM
Bijoux
Headed out into the Bijoux riding area we decided to verify conditions by testing small wind loaded slopes. What we found was that the snowpack was reactive and produced a small sled triggered slide. Happened on a northeast facing slope. the slab varied from 20cm to 70cm thick and was 25m wide.
trevor.norris250,
Thursday 27th February, 2025 1:00PM
Tommy One Fun
We went to Tommy Creek anticipating powder and windslabs, and we found both. Southerly winds were blowing snow around at ridge top. It was -2ºC in the alpine and the surface snow was moist up to 2000m. These warm temps and winds have settled the upper snowpack into a slab over the less dense, new snow. We saw lots of shooting cracks in this slab as we travelled through wind loaded terrain, even on mellow slopes. This slab, roughly 30-50 cm thick, produced sudden test results in our snow profile on a northerly alpine slope at 2100 m. We also had results on surface hoar (3-5 mm) from February 20th buried 90cm deep. After a helmets off discussion, we decided to ride deep powder on mellow slopes well away from overhead hazards. It was another great day in the mountains around McBride!
northrockiesfieldteam,
Thursday 27th February, 2025 1:00PM
Still Sketchy
Last weekend's storm snow made for great powder riding at Treeline and Alpine. Unfortunately, it's not bonding well to the old snow below it, a layer of weak facets and surface hoar. While sledding on mellow terrain, we remotely triggered two small avalanches in adjacent steep features. Several other small storm slab avalanches had also failed on this weak layer in previous days. We kept to low-angle terrain and were extra mindful to stay away from overhead hazards. The winds were light which left a lot of options for sledding deep snow away from the avalanche hazard.
northrockiesfieldteam,
Tuesday 25th February, 2025 6:00PM
Hot pow
Seen many red flags 🚩🚩🚩🚩 today so we decided to have a fun day smashing pow on small slopes and meadows. On test slopes we had failures down 25cm on the old facets. Small avalanches were observed. The day was overcast and snowing heavily above 1300m below 1100m it was raining pretty good making for some sketchy roads. Moderate SW winds at tree line were transporting snow around and looked stronger in the alpine. The best riding we found was around 1500m
Trapper Gilowski,
Saturday 22nd February, 2025 1:00PM
Spicy Beaver
We stayed low, less wind affected.
We tested slopes with sleds and easily dropped several.
Whitenessed many natural slides
Be Avy Savy, Ride with gear. Ride Safe
It’s spicy!
rmodde2004,
Saturday 22nd February, 2025 11:21AM
Sucks to be a meadow
Freezing level confirmed 1500m around noon . But dropped to the parking lot late afternoon. Storm slab was 30cm ++ of new snow. Dug a pit , no result on ECT test .
Poor visibility . Snowing heavily .
briankjgirard,
Saturday 22nd February, 2025 10:59AM
Stormy and Spicy
At Bijoux the snowpack and weather were giving us signs that today was not a good day to be in avalanche terrain so we kept it simple and stayed away from any steep slopes and overhead hazards.
With warm temperatures (snow line about 1000 m), and rapid loading from new snow and wind, the recipe for touchy avalanche conditions was set. On flat terrain at treeline we were able to remote trigger slabs on steep, small micro terrain features from up to 30 m away. The new slabs were between 15-60 cm deep and were failing on a layer of sugary facets and weak surface hoar. We also noticed that the moderate southwest wind was perfect for loading lee terrain features and building new sensitive cornices.
We were unable to get alpine observations and had poor visibility.
northrockiesfieldteam,
Friday 21st February, 2025 2:00PM
Resetting
dave,
Friday 21st February, 2025 11:00AM
Gimme Shelter
After a week of relative calm up at Core Lodge, windy weather has returned. The strong gusts had some old snow on the move potentially building small wind slabs in exposed terrain.
We took the opportunity to do some rescue tarp setup practice, even though the well-stocked Tumbler Ridge Riders cabin was nearby. As luck would have it, we got to enjoy some fresh grooming from the club on the way out (thanks guys!)
northrockiesfieldteam,
Thursday 20th February, 2025 2:02PM
Blowing sideways
Reset is finally coming in but there’s still not much snow on the ground. We saw drifts 10 cm deep in Lee areas at treeline, but no instabilities. Visibility in alpine was incredibly poor. Snowing harder than forecast, probably 7 cm in 3 hours.
dave,
Thursday 20th February, 2025 12:11PM
Keep lunch close
We're hoping that the forecasted snow will show up tomorrow. We found hard snow in all exposed terrain and sheltered areas had only 20cm over old surfaces. The last storm (two weeks ago) had north-easterly winds, counter to the usual direction. Now there's sastrugi in unusual places and north through east facing slopes are scoured. That surface has been facetting in the cold weather and we are interested to see how the new snow bonds.
northrockiesfieldteam,
Wednesday 19th February, 2025 6:00PM
Still good in the Trees
We spent the day at Bijoux riding in the trees to find those leftover pockets of untracked soft snow. In most areas, the surface was hard and wind-affected. Today the winds were light and we did not see any drifting snow. We did see surface hoar growing everywhere. It was getting mixed into the light snow that was falling. We did not have any significant results in our snowpack tests.
northrockiesfieldteam,
Tuesday 18th February, 2025 6:00PM
Turn up the heat
Leaving the parking lot it was -28 and warmed up to -8 in the back of the valley. Winds were stronger than forecasted coming from the SW with some snow transport at ridge tops. Surface hoar was observed in the majority of the area and highly variable in size. The cold weather has preserved the riding quality and in areas protected from the wind made for some great riding. HS varied from 130-160cm with a breakable crust down 35cm not very noticeable under the sleds but probing you could feel it.
Trapper Gilowski,
Monday 17th February, 2025 1:00PM
Surface Hoar
Stuck to the trees below the Camel Humps, where there was still some soft snow. Lots of surface hoar growing everywhere that was wind sheltered. Hard wind effect snow on ridges with stastrugi patterns. Winds were calm.
andrew.sachs1,
Monday 17th February, 2025 11:30AM
La Glass lake
Cold Clear day, had to hunt to fidn some good rideing in sheltered tree areas but fun was had by all. Saw two avalanches today both wind slabs one on Mt Ian Monroe the Other on Wishaw. Windslabs are def an issue at treeline. look out for sheltred areas that could have large wind pockets.
nitro,
Sunday 16th February, 2025 6:00PM
FOR CRAIG
Skied 45/Full Suspension today. The North aspect and cold weather has kept the snow soft despite no fresh snowfall for a while now. Fairly similar snow to last weekend except a bit more sluffy on the steeper terrain. All made for excellent skiing with good access.
Phil Soicher,
Sunday 16th February, 2025 12:00PM
Sugar Farming
Skied a couple of laps at the Farm today. Snow seemed to be different from last weekend. Top 15-20cms are sugary and light and gets stiffer as you go down. You can feel the different densities while breaking trail. Seemed less noticeable on more north facing slopes. The top sugar sluffed a fair bit on steep unsupported slopes. Skiing was excellent pretty much right to the truck. No issues with access.
Phil Soicher,
Friday 14th February, 2025 12:00AM
Great Times at Tommy
Today, we filmed in the new Tommy Creek riding area in McBride now that it's open 7 days a week. It was a gorgeous sunny day with only light southerly winds. It hasn't snowed in a while but that didn't matter, there was more than enough terrain to find lots of untouched snow. We rode in Tommy 1 all day and never even made it to Tommy 2 or 3. It was fun to explore the expansive alpine terrain while hazard is at MLL. Sheltered alpine/treeline bowls held great snow but we stayed away from any ridge tops where it appeared that recent winds had left hard slabs behind. Or profile at the top of treeline showed that while the snowpack is becoming sugary, it is stable in areas away the effects of full sun or wind. What an awesome day! We can't wait to get back out to Tommy.
northrockiesfieldteam,
Thursday 13th February, 2025 4:00PM
Cold but hella sunny
Beauty day for an AST class in the Perry creek, cold but gorgeous when the sun was out!
We saw several avalanches on N and E facing slopes in the Alpine, looked to be from last weekend likely. We could trigger small failures on cornices in the meadows, but they were very stubborn. We also found some surface hose down about 40 cm that would fail in compression tests but not propagate in Extended Column tests.
About 10 cm of fresh snow over the mid Jan crust skied very nicely for the handful of turns we got.
dave,
Sunday 9th February, 2025 1:07PM
Great day for getting stuck
Great day in Calzon, lots of good tree riding available, no wind affected snow or signs of instability below treeline, open meadows or dense trees. Day was cold, calm, cloudy, and there’s still lots of snow in the trees waiting to be smashed.
dave,
Saturday 8th February, 2025 1:08PM
FOR EMMA!
We didn't note any instabilities during the skin up, even in unsupported situations or when aggressively jumping on small scale but abrupt convexities. Looking for reasons to not farm the steeper open slopes (below tree line) we dug a pit at 1400m on a N-NW slope. There was 175cm snowpack. 60cm on top of a breakable crust. Snowpack was right side up throughout. Shovel shear tests didn't create any clean fractures. There was consolidation to the 60cm crust. ECT presented with no results, merely fluffed away.
Shortly after, our skin track lead us into a less densely treed N-NE slope and there was a very stiff styrofoam wind crust breaking off in up to 6" chunks. It was difficult to sidehill in and would have been terrible / less safe skiing, so we contoured back to the western slope. The wind crust became more obvious as trees thinned / elevation increased, even getting the N-NW slope. Diminishing returns stopped us around 1650m.
Descending N-NW slopes there was heavy sluffing but no signs of slabbing and provided some (really(REALLY)) good turns.
shnaytoface,
Saturday 8th February, 2025 1:00PM
Good times at the Longworth Lookout
Skied around the longworth lookout. Alpine was wind affected on all observed aspects. Snow quality below treeline was excellent! We also skied steeper trees on both North and South aspects. Probed 220cm near the snow weather station. We observed older avalache debris on west facing aspects, maybe a week old. Wind slabs were our main concern but did not observe any active instability.
bevingtona,
Saturday 8th February, 2025 10:00AM
Torpy Turns
Today we found the best riding by avoiding the avalanche problem. There was deep powder in sheltered treeline terrain. In more wind exposed, south to east facing features, we found evidence of hard old windslabs. The alpine was scoured, hard snow with huge sastrugi in some places. Interestingly, we're finding the same buried surface hoar that caught a skier in the area last weeked below treeline as high as 1600m. Like in other areas, there was small surface hoar also growing on top of the old snow. The day was cloudy and cold, but it warmed up to -14C and a few flurries started up late in the day.
ben-hawkins,
Friday 7th February, 2025 6:00PM
Blower Shnay
We had no signs of snow consolidation / slab formation, even when skinning above unsupported slopes. Throughout the day (at the higher elevation of that slope) the snow was getting slightly wind packed and the top cm was forming a soft layer.
I don't know when they are going to stop plowing to 38.5km, but it wasn't today!
shnaytoface,
Saturday 1st February, 2025 3:00PM
Sled Ski Slides
We sledded into the north side of Bearpaw Ridge for some below treeline powder skiing. Near the ridge top (1300 m BTL) we entered an old wildfire that left an area of sparse trees and alder. While the skiing was amazing avalanche conditions were touchy and we saw 5 size1.5-2 avalanches all in close proximity. These all failed on a layer of large surface hoar buried 45 cm under the last storm. Once we got back to the dense trees the skiing was amazing despite the cold.
ben-hawkins,
Saturday 1st February, 2025 1:30PM