Northwest Inland

For our final day of the season we went wandering to explore possible access for next season. The forecast freezing level didn't pan out for us and we found it extremely warm very early in the day. Our day involved mainly valley bottom travel with isothermal snow by 11am keeping the sleds cool. We did however get lots of visual observations on many slopes and saw several wet loose avalanches to size 2 and we expect the freezing level rose to 1400m. Its going to be a scorcher this weekend more so than last weekend so we are expecting the possibility of the Jan 26th PWL to re awaken. Today was our last field day so if you're out and about it would be great to hear from you in the MINs so we can all get some more great spring skiing in with some field information! Thanks for following along with us this season! We are already looking forward to the next one!

Telkwa weather data no more. We were thankful for a few cm of snow at the parking lot growing to 15cm in the alpine to keep our sleds cool on the climb. We observed a couple natural wind slab avalanches, size 1.5 from the last 48 hours but no sign of any action on the persistent weak layer from Jan 26th. Temps stayed cold today at 1600m at -5 with moderate N winds. In digging today we took a trip down memory lane and dug through the numerous rain layers on our way to freeing the weather station which had been all but enveloped by this seasons snowpack. This weekend will bring rising freezing levels and the possibility for more activity on the Jan 26th layer. If you're out and about fire us a MIN as tomorrow will likely be our last field day.

It may have slid after the heat from the hot summer-like weather during last Saturday, followed by new snow loading on Monday/Tuesday.

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.

Did a lap thru Hankin today for an Avalanche Class, and had surprisingly good skiing. 5-10cm of new snow over yesterdays Melt Freeze Crust. This was dry in the morning, and became moist as the day went on. Prev west winds had built thin slabs, that failed easily with ski cuts on specific lee features on the recent crust. Temps stayed cool, below zero, and cloud cover and winds kept surfaces relatively cool, but in sunny breaks, the solar was intense, and noticeable affected the surface. Ski quality was good, on smooth terrain, and even ok on the cut runs. Cornices are huge.

Skied the Worm couloir today, overall positive conditions up there. Lower road is in tough shape for sledding, mud rocks and ice until about 700m. Side-hilled on a barely edge-able melt/freeze crust in the morning, on an E aspect at 1300, by the time we returned in the afternoon it was hot pow(corn chowder?) and we opted to stay in the trees for our skin track across. Rollerballs up to 2ft in diameter at the end of the day there. Traverse on N aspect below toboggan glacier was shiny hardpack at 1400m, thankfully the first bootpack on W aspect up to 1600m to reach the secondary glacier was softer, about 10cm boot penetration. Skinning the N aspect secondary glacier up to 2000m on was a mix of firm edge-able wind effect hardpack and slightly softer wind effected snow. Climbing the final slope we were pleased to find the snow getting better the higher we went. By the time we topped out at 2200 there was up to 10cm of sugary snow sitting on a supportive crust. It skied very well at the top half of the line and was particularly nice in the sheltered pinch halfway down. Two Bergshrungs to cross at the bottom of the couloir, upper one is significant in size.

Dropped in Henderson couloir around 1:45PM today. Headwall was just starting to soften up, skied well. Lower bowl had been in the clouds for a while, it wasn’t quite corn snow, a bit firmer. Rolling clouds throughout the day prevented the alpine to warm up too much. Back side of cornices looming over Simpson gulch only started to turn moist around 1:30PM.

observed from Hbm. avi occurred at 2:42 pm.

Snow wasn’t wet at that point in the day. It slid sometime in the 15mins after we skinned up during our transition at the top. Deep weak layer appears to be more reactive than we expected considering the danger levels. We estimate the slide to be a large slide 3

Spring has arrived in the alpine. +6 degrees at 1600m calm winds and the sun was packing a punch. We did the plateau tour today with great visibility to gain as many observations as possible. With the recent warming and solar input we were un surprised to see numerous cornice releases as well as numerous old wind slabs from earlier this week. In testing we had moderate results down 40 on an old wind slab interface but nothing else of note. At the end of the day in the final hour we found exactly what we were looking for, a size 3 natural avalanche running on the Jan 26th layer. Every time we get close to pulling this problem it rears its ugly head again. Give the snowpack some time to adjust to the warming and solar input and we should be in the swing of spring in no time.

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.

With sun in the forecast we made our way to Hankin with alpine dreams. Our dreams were dashed as we got views into North bowl and observed re frozen roller balls effecting every aspect. The top 1/4 of the alpine looked enjoyable but the bottom 3/4 would have had it out for our knees. We dug a pit on an East aspect at 1250m with no significant results in testing. The Jan 26th crust facet combo is down 100cm in this location and the facets above the crust seem to be rounding and compressing. After a snack and quick sun pit session we traversed at tree line between North Bowl and Cabin Bowl to gain more observations. Cabin bowl looked to be in similar shape to North bowl with more wind effect at ridge top and a size 2 wind slab that likely released over the weekend. With a clouds coming and going and a bit of wind the sun never had a chance to soften up our exit and we skied our way down on very audible snow. Today felt like the flip of a switch to spring after a very wintery feeling the rest of the week. Time to switch into a spring mindset and give the cornices and solar input the respect they deserve!

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!

Its April and yet the Onion is not yet caramelized! Winter persists with freezing levels from our latest storm hovering around 1400m and providing 15cm of new snow that was being redistributed by moderate to strong westerly winds today. We observed 2 natural size 1 wind slabs out of lee terrain and we suspect they released overnight with lighter consistent winds as they seemed to have little slab property. We dug on a North aspect at 1590M and got hard resistant planar results in last weeks storm snow interfaces down 30. We also dug down to the Jan 26 crust facet combo and got no results in a deep tap test. Great to see this layer healing in this specific location but with recent natural activity on this layer its not a result to hang our hats on. Wind slabs and their potential to step down to the Jan 26th layer were fore front in our minds today so we kept it simple in small terrain and avoided large wind loaded slopes. Winter is still on out there but remember the sun can pack a punch this time of year and can change conditions quickly.

Puttered around silvern and schufer lakes today. Mostly cloudy, with small windows with decent visibility. Winds generally calm, although some big gusts through the day. Snow surface got quite warm after the sun came out behind some thin cloud creating greenhouse effect. We skied the claim stake. We did a roped ski cut on wind slab on the entrance convexity and got a size 1 to go. Slid fast and propagated almost 10 meters out from the skis. Sled quality in the morning was pretty good, but by mid afternoon was quite heavy.

snowmobile remote triggered windslab

Excellent riding at Microwave today! We avoided steep alpine slopes and overhead hazards like cornices. We investigated the persistent weak facet/ crust interface from late January and found mixed results. We also saw a natural cornice triggered a persistent slab avalanche. Our confidence remains low with this avalanche problem and in times of uncertainty, conservative terrain choices are our best defense.

weekend in silver king basin. snow was good 25+cm new snow. wind loading in the alpine… No avalanche activity (only little sluff out off steep cliffs)… except one size 2+ wind slab. natural release between Mo 10:00-13:00 (pin location). at tree-line, SW. cross-loaded… ski cutting at similar slope had no results…

We rode up towards Silvern Lakes today. We found good riding in the sheltered trees with up to 40 cm of new snow and zero wind effect. We saw no new avalanches but visibility was a little challenging. We avoided all large terrain features due to our concerns with the persistent weak layer.

Dug a ECT at tree line below the main north bowl ridge in a sheltered area above the trees, no results on a etc and had some difficulty prying the block off the column and it broke unevenly across the base of the column, inspected PWL at 140cms and found mixed forms of rounds and some facets 0.5-2mm.

Checked out McKendrick, was not disappointed! Access is nice and easy from the 4 lakes parking spot. Had a light breeze and sun on the way up, around -5⁰c at noon. Went up the main avvy path in the picture, decided to top out just below treeline at 1400m due to snow quality changing from light powder on old debris/supportive crust to denser layered snow. Didn't want to venture further up, as the snow texture in the open spots at bottom of the couloirs looked like a freshly cross loaded slab. Line had already cycled +48hrs ago, likely from a cornice fall from the ridge above. Hand shears on the way up were inconclusive. Ski quality was fantastic until around 1200m where the death cookies took over, ventured into the forest for the last leg of the descent and was rewarded with good turns in the denser old growth. Would not recommend skiing the bottom half of the avy path, powder gets thinner and the death cookies don't mess around.

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.

One of the best days of the season up at the Grizzly Plateau with around 40 cm of storm snow accumulated over the last few days, combined with perfect visibility and sunshine. The best and safest riding was found in sheltered areas below treeline where the low-density snow resulted in soft conditions and lots of faceshots. At higher elevations, wind effect was more noticeable, resulting in firmer, less powdery conditions. We saw evidence of several recent small wind slabs and cornice failures but nothing large – overall the new snow seemed to be bonding pretty well. The main concern was a large slab on a northwest-facing treeline slope that likely released 2–3 days ago. The crown was up to 2 meters deep. Although it had been partially filled in by subsequent snowfall, the debris remained clearly visible. This avalanche failed on a persistent weak layer from late January and was likely triggered naturally during a period of rapid wind loading. We had good visibility into a range of avalanche terrain today, and this was the only large slab observed. We have a lot of uncertainty around this layer - It’s unlikely to be triggered at such depths, but if it goes, it goes BIG.

Super cold temperatures this morning up at the Onion, and the freezing northeast winds didn’t help. After warming up in the cabin, we headed out to check the area. We started seeing avalanches pretty quickly—see photos and captions for details. The most concerning was a large slide at treeline, which may have been remotely triggered by other sledders prior to the last storm. It failed on a persistent weak layer: a crust now buried 100–150 cm deep. Triggering a layer at that depth requires hitting the right spot—likely a spot with a thinner snowpack—but if it does go, it can produce very large and destructive avalanches. Some of the debris blocks were refrigerator-sized and had set up like concrete. Right now, the best and safest riding is in sheltered, non-wind-affected areas below treeline. The greatest concern we had was for north through east-facing slopes at treeline. Smaller wind slabs in the alpine are also something to watch for, especially since they have the potential to step down to the deeper persistent layer.

A few days of skiing ending with Friday, first day in stormy but calm conditions and a ridiculous amount of dry powder then becoming increasingly clear over the following days. We skied BTL to ALP and E, W, N aspects. Snow felt uncomfortable in the ALP on E aspect where exposed to winds, with clear windslabs properties over hollow layers. Best skiing was found lower down treeline on that aspect or on ALP north facing runs. We skied over steep terrain with no results. Whumpfing was abundant but only very low BTL close to creeks. Bombing Friday produced only small wind slabs results on adjacent E facing ALP features.

Did a quick lap up to the Hankin hut this morning and noticed: (1) cross-loading from the south at treeline into alpine and (2) recent runouts still showing in the cabin bowl. Snow quality was excellent in sheltered areas.

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!

5 nights in Starr basin. As expected, spicy conditions at the beginning of the week, with tapering and good stability by the end. Monday: we had sudden planar failures on block isolation at storm slab interface with previously faceted snow surface. Also ECT12 on the Feb crust facet interface, but a pop, no planar propagation. Lots of shooting cracks in upper 80cm storm snow. Conditions made travel very difficult with thigh deep trail breaking, and knee deep ski pen. Tuesday: observed one size two storm slab in steep, east facing open trees from last 12 hours. Snow tests and pimple popping shoes improved stability with no shooting cracks. Moderate ECT results on storm interface, and hard results on Feb crust. Skiing improving with 45cm ski pen, and consolidation Wednesday: hard results on compression and ECt tests in storm interface, no results on Feb crust (now down 120cm). Freezing by level reached 1450m. Big wind event over night from the south. Overnight, snow finally stopped, with a storm total of >120cm in the basin. Temps cooling to -7 over night. Thursday: broken skies showed evidence of a widespread avalanche cycle up to size 2 in the alpine terrain around Starr basin. Prinaily wind slabs, with some entrainment of storm slabs in steep alpine terrain lee of winds. A few small cornice failures looks to have also occurred. Slides did not run very far to terminated at top of run out in most cases. Alpine slopes with south, and east aspects hit hard by wind the preceding night, and scoured in places to Feb crust. Friday: stability continues to improve with colder temps. No results in tests on storm slab or Feb crust, and no avalanches observed in past 36 hours. Ski pen now 30cm in cold, lovely snow. Ski quality amazing. Saturday: skied a dawn patrol on incredible steep, NE terrain at treeline in lovely, fast snow. Flew out and on trip to Smithers continued to observe numerous size 2 - 2.5 avalanches in steep alpine terrain on E, NE, N, NW aspects

Observed signs of last widespread avy cycle from Mar18, all failing with windslabs on steep shallow rocks, cornices, or on crusty bed surface, with start zones from 1250m-1550

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!

Went for a tour up the Evelynn runs to stick in the trees given the current hazard level. An absolute ton of whumpfing happening on the uptrack all the way from 1200m to 1600m where we stopped. Steady moderate snowfall all morning that transitioned to rain around 950-1000m We dug a profile at 1550m, found 40cm of storm snow from yesterday/this morning overlaying the SH from our recent cold. There is already slab property to the storm snow. We had a sudden planar failure on the storm slab CTE1 and full propagation of the column at ECTP2. We did not have any results on the jan 26 crust/facet layer. Pretty spooky conditions out there - suspect we would have seen a number of naturals in the alpine if we had the vis. Great time to toodle around in mellow terrain while this cycles through. The skiing was bonkers good.

Heavens Gate bowl day. New access is much better, barely skinnable through the trees but much more direct. The weather for the day was in and out visibility, lots of gropple, winds were around 20km/h gusting 40km/h, temperature at treeline around -10c all day. Skinning up was a flat light windy experience, but magically, the wind calmed, clouds lifted and the sun came out for our descent. The Boulder field from 1300-1500m was a moderately difficult crust to skin up, but by afternoon had softened up enough to be edge-able and fun for the descent. Light powder began gradually accumulating on this crust as we ascended, 1-2 cm at 1300 to around 10cm at 1650. from 1700-2000m the crust remained thick below 2 distinct layers of 5cm-10cm light crumbly older deposit, and 5-10cm of light powder on top. As we ascended the first layer on the crust became denser and more intact on our hand shears. The bonding between the crust and this layer was generally strong, with one out of eight hand shears breaking easy and staying intact, the others shears revealed sugary slabs that easily separated from eachother, and crumbled with minimal effort. It made for supportive skinning and great skiing on our NW facing line.

Despite unsettled weather & strong ridge top gusty wind from the northwest, unconsolidated boot top pow on Elliot north & south face remained unaffected by wind as of March 14. No signs of soft or hard slab along our paths. Probably farmed one of the best turns in consistent light density pow we've ever ridden in the BV valley in the last 15 years! (At Treeline ridge back to the top of the tree runs, soft slabs were slowly forming.)

A great day at the Hankin cabin with all the ladies from the BVSS! Some good ski conditions to be found. We didnt venture above treeline but could see periods of blowing snow at ridgetop and some small sluffs from under cornices. Wind slabs were likely forming. Our test pit at treeline distinctly showed the persistent weak layer which did not react in either ECT or CT tests. Some great skiing to be found, especially in wind-sheltered areas.

There is a fine balance to good snow right now, essentially from the bottom of alpine to the top of treeline is lovely... everything else is not so great. We did 4 little laps around the main bowl off 13km of the Dennis West and got a good variation of snow quality. Stuck to N/E aspects and stayed cautious around any wind loaded steep sections with thin spots from being wind blasted and tested convex rolls into treeline hallways. That PWL kept us cautious in a new zone. Alpine is HARD PACK, even in the N-N/E facing bowls which was impressive. Rock hard and shiny crust or wind buffed styrofoam sastrugi. No notable concerning problems showed up as we rode/ skinned. There's an expected wind affect once you get out of treeline but wasn't propagating into a slab on anything we rode, just a bit punchy on the top 5cm North aspect has some pretty speedy dry loose sluffs following us down a steeper slope, and gathered a bit, but stayed just as that. Excellent snow quality Treeline to the car is sporty, but has a light dusting of snow to soften the crust and rowdy tree skiing home.

Today we rode the Onion. When you find the Onion with fresh snow before the wind does its always a great day. We had sunny clear skies for the morning before the clouds showed up in the afternoon with some scattered flurries, calm winds. It stayed cold at -9 throughout our field day. We dug on a North and South aspect at 1600m and did not find facets above the Jan 26 crust in either location. We are still trying to find a pattern as to where these facets exist and until then we will treat it as a wide spread layer. We observed numerous cornice failures from last weekends warm spell but did not observe any avalanche sign associated with them. This may be a case of the crown lines and debris being covered by the new snow. The new snow did load up some lee features as we saw numerous size 1 soft wind slabs in NE alpine terrain. Luckily theres lots of great terrain at the Onion to ride without sticking your neck out. We kept it simple in the meadows and smaller features and will continue to do so until we better understand the spacial distribution of this layer. If you're out and about and have the time, dig a hole and help us nail down where these facets are lurking!

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.

Today we headed up the Microwave to see what we could see. The day was a mixed bag for us with sunny patches, thick cloud, and pulses of snow. Winds were light from the SE, -7 and we found the crust from the warm weather over the weekend dissipated at 1500m. With the little visibility we had we did manage to observe a size 2.5 wind slab out of a NW alpine feature likely running Sunday. At 1600m we dug a test pit on a SE aspect and found 370cm of snow. In testing we had results in our extended column tests down 40 on a 10 cm layer of preserved stellar crystals that will likely keep wind slabs reactive for a little longer than usual.

Rode in Onion today and found good snow in sheltered areas. The early February crust is supporting the machines really well making for inspiring conditions to go exploring. Based on the new snow and wind we avoided avalanche terrain in the alpine for avalanche hazard and also due to concerns about ride-ability.

Super nice morning out at Sinclair! The alpine is much less wind affected than expected. We were generally riding 15-30 cm of pow. There is a crust from rain over the weekend that is mostly breakable and found at treeline. It does not impact riding quality. Winds were light, temps were below 0c and some flurries and cloud moved in in the afternoon. We observed a few recent wind slab avalanches that likely came out in the last 24-48 hrs when winds were extreme — you know, sometime like when the power went out across the NW on Saturday night. One of the recent avalanches very much so impacted a fairly standard route for riding up into the alpine from treeline. We kept an eye on our overhead today, keeping wind slabs and cornices in mind.

From town clear skies and morning alpen glow showed 5 obvious naturals from the weekend (associated with the extreme wind event?). Simpsons gulch has obvious sz 2+ debris visible, 2x deposits in big Simpsons (cornice failure?) and a slabs (sz 1.5 and 2) on the upper to mid cross loaded south flank on the north side of twin falls /glacier gulch. All look to be associated with ~sw to nw wind in lower to ridge top alpine terrain.

Full width, full path, full on. All of Little Simpson slid on Saturday morning. Massive wind loads gave way on the upper roll. Middle roll also slid. Mini crowns indicating step down scenarios discernable amongst the carnage. Debris field all the way down to the flats near the terminus of the Little Simpson road.

Crusty in the lower trees from old tree bombs and warming. Open areas in the lowers had a zipper crust. Once we got above 850 meters, conditions improved and we found deep powder. We avoided steep slopes and alpine terrain. It was snowing and visibility was poor. Winds were calm in the trees but picked up to moderate at higher up. Elevations covered: 670m-1280m.

Today we skied at Hankin. On the way in, we observed a size 2 avalanche on the Analog ski run that probably occurred within the last 48-72 hours. The snow was crusty from the recent warm temperatures in the parking lot, but around 1300 m, the crust was gone. We dug a snow pit just above the cabin and were able to produce hard propagating results in an extended column test down 70 cm on the Jan 26th crust. We then skied to the top of Cabin Bowl and skied the north-facing line from ridgetop. Ski quality was decent with some wind effect in the snow to contend with, but overall, it was pretty good. Winds were gusting strongly from the west at the ridge top, transporting snow and feeding the wind slab problem.