Northwest Inland
Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Wind Slabs, Cornices.
Published: Apr 17th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Wind Slabs, Cornices.
Published: Apr 16th, 2025Dust on Crust
A lovely tour in the sunshine up the Hudson Bay area today. We were out by noon so unable to confirm how much of an effect the April sun had on the snow in the afternoon. Surfaces were still frozen while we were out. We gave cornices a wide berth on the ridgeline, in some areas they still look quite large and fragile. More details in photo captions.
AvCan Northwest,
Wednesday 16th April, 2025 1:00PM
Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs, Persistent Slabs, Cornices.
Published: Apr 15th, 2025Sledding with Skis
A good day to take the skis for a spin up the Blunt! (Caution the road up to staging is super muddy and rutted now.) The new snow we were hoping to ski ended up being too crusty after the overnight freeze to make for good riding, so we ditched the skis in a meadow and sledded up to the alpine to look around. Our main goal was to hunt for the persistent weak layer and see if it's still a player on those high alpine north and easterly slopes. We found that it is! The crust/facet layer down 70 cm popped and failed just with isolating the column and no taps - which is spicier than we were anticipating! We also found another concerning layer of preserved surface hoar crystals buried 100 cm. It seems to us that the persistent weak layers are only an issue in very isolated areas, but it's hard to pinpoint where those are. For us, adopting a continued conservative mindset and terrain choice for high alpine north through east-facing slopes has been the way to go. Otherwise, some great views to be had and travel is easy with a supportive crust on top in most areas.
AvCan Northwest,
Tuesday 15th April, 2025 2:00PM
Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Apr 14th, 2025Melting Onion
At the Onion the parking lot is fully melted, but as you start heading up the trail, there are still a few patches of snow to jump between for the first 200 meters or so. After that, the trail is in good shape the rest of the way.
Above 1300 m, there was 10-20 cm of recent snow on a hard and supportive 5 - 25 cm thick crust. The crust was thickest on south and west facing slopes that see a lot of sun. Around midday, it started snowing lightly and winds remained light to calm.
We dug two snowpits on a northeast and a south aspect at treeline (1600 m). We did not produce any significant test results in either pit. We have attached a photo of each snow pit in the photos with some information on what we found.
The snow on top of the crust was moist and sticky, making for some large rollerballs - something to look out for when the sun comes out the next few days, wet loose sluffs will need to be managed.
AvCan Northwest,
Monday 14th April, 2025 1:00PM
Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Apr 13th, 2025It ain't over till the bugs come out
Attempted to romance a NE couloir, but visibility above treeline was severely limited, so we enjoyed a few treeline laps.
The two east facing slopes we rode had around 5cm of new snow in the open from alpine to treeline, and 15cm in sheltered pockets around the trees. The crust below was very present while skiing, and made for some slippery skinning at times. Hand shears were soft and crumbly and we found no definitive weaker layer between the crust and the new snow.
Gave some fresh cornices and wind loaded ridges a good stomp, and there was no energy transfer across the ~24-48hr formations. Seemed like the snow temperature was increasing throughout the day alongside the air temperature, almost to the point of roller-balls as we made our exit.
Ben.Hallman,
Sunday 13th April, 2025 12:00AM
Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Apr 12th, 2025Evelyn NE Face Slide
GBSki ,
Saturday 12th April, 2025 2:00PM
Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Apr 11th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Apr 11th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Apr 10th, 2025Microwave Whiteout
Today, we rode up to the Microwave via the Fingers access. The snowpack is currently in a freeze-thaw cycle and was very frozen this morning, making for lots of overheating on the way up to the Microwave. Snow began falling around midday with about 2 cm of accumulation whie we were in the field, which did little to improve the riding quality. Visibility was terrible, so we did not venture very far.
AvCan Northwest,
Thursday 10th April, 2025 2:00PM
Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Cornices, Loose Wet.
Published: Apr 9th, 2025Takin out Telkwa
Today, we removed the Telkwa weather station for the season. That took up most of our day, so we did not make it very far. Snow below 1000 m is Isothermal and melting fast. There was a crust all the way up to 1600 m. we did not observe any avalanches.
AvCan Northwest,
Wednesday 9th April, 2025 3:00PM
Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Loose Wet, Cornices.
Published: Apr 8th, 2025Still on up high at Seaton
Today, we rode at Seaton Basin. Snow was isothermal at the parking lot at 1150m. The top 20-30cm of snow was moist until about 1600 m. Above 1600 m, there was up to 20 cm of cold new snow. We dug a snow pit at 1900 m on a northeast aspect and found the March 5th surface hoar down 65 cm. We were able to get hard propagating results in an extended column test. The March 5th surface hoar layer was well preserved here. There were light southerly winds throughout the day, and temperatures stayed below zero above 1600m. We observed a few old, wet, loose avalanches from the rain event over the weekend.
AvCan Northwest,
Tuesday 8th April, 2025 2:00PM
Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Cornices.
Published: Apr 7th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Cornices.
Published: Apr 6th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Cornices, Wind Slabs.
Published: Apr 5th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Cornices, Loose Wet.
Published: Apr 4th, 2025