Northwest Inland
Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 28th, 2025heck yea Hankin
Today we skied at Hankin. The road in is really really icy. The skin track up to the hut is also really icy and made for difficult skinning. Above the hut (1450 m) a few centimetres of new snow has refreshed ski quality. Below the new snow there was a thin wind slab that we did not see any reactive on during our day.
We observed previous pinweeling and small cornice failure from earlier in the week due to warm temperatures and sun at high treeline/low alpine. We noted that the previous warm temperatures did not trigger persistent slabs in this area. In a profile, we noted that the persistent layers are less defined compared to other locations in our region (i.e. Seaton and Babines). With colder temperatures, we felt comfortable taking a step out to ski a run in Cabin Bowl.
AvCan Northwest,
Friday 28th March, 2025 3:00PM
Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 27th, 2025Spring Onion
Today we went to the Onion looking for a wind lip to practice crevasse rescue. We encountered strong winds from the NE. This change in the wind direction is redistributing the snow into a reverse pattern with westerly aspects snow loaded. The alpine now has widespread wind effect on all aspects with lots of hard surfaces. We found all the persistent weak layers in the snowpack, with moderate sudden planar results on the March 5 and hard sudden collapse results on the Mid- Feb Facets.
AvCan Northwest,
Thursday 27th March, 2025 4:00PM
Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 26th, 2025Stable Sinclair
Conditions at Sinlcair seemed much more stable than what we have seen in other parts of the region. We tried hard to find the persistent weak layer, digging two separate pits: one on an east facing treeline slope and another on a north facing alpine slope but in both cases found no layers of concern. We had great views today into numerous large alpine start zones and only saw a few small wind slabs that likely occurred three more more days ago. "Sled cuts" on small steep wind-loaded slopes produced no results. The best riding was found on shady upper-elevation slopes (north and east facing) with sunny slopes being moist or crusty at all elevations. Our one concern was cornice haazard. They are quite large now. We gave them a wide berth at ridgetops and avoided lingering underneath them.
AvCan Northwest,
Wednesday 26th March, 2025 12:00PM
Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Loose Wet, Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 25th, 2025To Put it Bluntly...
Some very large - up to size 3, avalanches in the Seaton / Blunt Range area. We saw 4 different slabs, generally on alpine north through east facing slopes. These were likely triggered by falling cornices. One large 2.5 slab was out of a south east aspect and may have occurred during warming today. We suspect the others occurred during the sun and warming on Monday. What was really impressive was the wide propagation - up to 500 m wide for one of the avalanches. We think the failure plane was the persistent weak layer described in the bulletin.
We stuck to mellow alpine slopes and managed to find some beautiful skiing while avoiding overhead hazard from sunny slopes and cornices. The snow surface was moist due to warming below treeline, and steep sunny slopes will likely have a new sun crust after today.
AvCan Northwest,
Tuesday 25th March, 2025 12:00PM
Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 24th, 2025Crater Lake
Nice day to go dig a pit and try and get a sense of went went on Saturday. No i didn't ski in and no i didn't ski out lol Tag lines and crampons have their place :)
Total snow depth was approx 4m. I dug to a depth of just over 170cm and got skunked by some incredibly hard layers and wanning energy. There was an approx 10cm new wind slab not noted 2 days prior.
ECT looked something like this: H3 @ 14cm, failure. H5 @ 22cm, failure. H10 @ 52cm, pop. E16 @ 80cm, drop. No results beyond that. I wasn't able to cut below 160cm as the rope saw i have got beat up by the ice layer at that depth. Seriously.
Snow temps; -6 @ 10cm, -6 @80cm, -8 @ 130 cm.
In the guts of Crater lake and the "classic lines" that feed into it, wind was zero to <5kph all day. As soon as you left the shelter of that zone it was ripping 40-50kph. This explains the volume of wind deposited snow i suppose. I'll be sticking to the trees for a bit until warmer days flush out these slabs. Skiing was .... marginal at best in this zone of HBM.
Skiing is fun. Don't forget to smile!!! :)
jordandelaney946,
Monday 24th March, 2025 1:00PM
Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 23rd, 2025Boulder creek
We thought conditions were looking sketchy so opted for an exploratory mission to check out access into boulder creek area. Minimal snow up to where you leave the road, first 150m in trees thin, but snowpack dramatically deepens from there up. Conservatives terrain choices as we entered treeline. We dug a pit and found it was about 225cm deep. The March layer was 35-40cm down, the Feb layer about 90. Both layers were reactive in ECT. Large whumpf noted leaving the pit, which remote triggered a size 2 about 40m away on an approx 38 degree slope. We continued on, widespread and somewhat dramatic whumpfing was noted throughout the treeline area we travelled. North facing zone.
barker.dben,
Sunday 23rd March, 2025 1:30PM
Ashman is nice
10-20cm of fresh snow on all aspects with more falling throughout the day. Next to no wind, and cloudy at ridge top limited visibility. On the south side the new snow was underlain by a thin but supportive crust. In hand shear tests on the north side we found a thin weak layer comprised of some sort of fragile crystals (maybe small surface hoar or facets) down 45cm. It didn't produce any results in a ECT. Otherwise, the snowpack is all right side up.
danielhelm.kz,
Sunday 23rd March, 2025 12:00PM
Granny Classic Crater Lake
jordandelaney946,
Saturday 22nd March, 2025 5:00PM
Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Storm Slabs.
Published: Mar 22nd, 2025AST 1 at Hudson Bay
Today at Hudson Bay we observed around 1cm of new snow over a thin layer of previous wind effect in exposed areas.
We dug a profile at 1650m on a south aspect and found 2mm surface hoar down 15cm and a 10cm 4-finger layer of 2-3mm facets (mid-Feb drought layer). We had repeated sudden moderate CT results on the mid-Feb layer, down 40cm. The total snow depth was 135cm.
Notably, a size 2 avalanche came out of the back of Crater Lake on the ski line sometime during the early-afternoon. Based on crown depth from afar and the snowpack structure in our profile, it was likely a persistent slab.
There was not much snow available for transport today, winds were light to moderate from the west, and we had a few moments of in and out sun, but otherwise very little input. Unsure of the trigger, may have been natural or human triggered. We saw several parties out on the Prairie today, but did not specifically notice any parties around Crater Lake.
~Stay Wild Backcountry Skills~
made.mart,
Saturday 22nd March, 2025 1:00PM
Mellow pow farming and touchy surface hoar
Jono_Doherty,
Saturday 22nd March, 2025 11:00AM
Q Ball NE face
Skier intentional cornice drop in Q Ball NE face. Size 2.5 slab avalanche triggered. Some pin wheeling on steep solar aspect during the brief periods of sun. Snow on polar aspects remained cool. Signs of size 1 to 2 avalanches on polar aspects from previous storm cycle, debris buried by recent snow. No snowpack tests done other than the intentional cornice drop.
peterpan,
Saturday 22nd March, 2025 12:00AM
Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Storm Slabs.
Published: Mar 21st, 2025Micro 👋
Today at the Microwave we observed around 15cm of new snow lightly blown in over old tracks. We did not observe any recent natural or rider triggered avalanches, but we did find buried surface hoar from early-March down 40cm.
Predicting the tipping point with layers like this can be tricky. Small changes in our surface snow (more settlement, additional snow, wind effect, solar input) have the potential to build a slab over this weak layer, potentially making it more reactive.
AvCan Northwest,
Thursday 20th March, 2025 5:00PM
Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Storm Slabs.
Published: Mar 20th, 2025Natural size 3 on King Louie - at home coffee obs
Drinking my morning coffee at home and noticed a very long, large avy running out the King Louie drainage.
The end of debris field is nearly the same elevation as the top switchback on the road, and the start zone looks to be a decent sized slab through the last thin rock band. Can't be sure what triggered it, but the high winds could have knocked something down and caught that reactive top layer forming.
Estimated size 2.5-3 with a 400-500m+ runout.
Likely failed on the March 5th layer, saw a similar size 1.5+ in passby on Monday at similar elevation.
It's going to make for a heinous ski out of there if anyone tries that line this spring!
sarahbelfordart,
Thursday 20th March, 2025 8:00AM
Natural size 3 on King Louie - at home coffee obs
Drinking my morning coffee at home and noticed a very long, large avy running out the King Louie drainage.
The end of debris field is nearly the same elevation as the top switchback on the road, and the start zone looks to be a decent sized slab through the last thin rock band. Can't be sure what triggered it, but the high winds could have knocked something down and caught that reactive top layer forming.
Estimated size 2.5-3 with a 400-500m+ runout.
Likely failed on the March 5th layer, saw a similar size 1.5+ in passby on Monday at similar elevation.
It's going to make for a heinous ski out of there if anyone tries that line this spring!
sarahbelfordart,
Thursday 20th March, 2025 8:00AM
Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Storm Slabs.
Published: Mar 19th, 2025Buried Surface Hoar at the Onion
We rode up to 1660m, near the top of treeline, and dug a snow profile. We had repeated results on an extended column test down 20cm. These results failed on buried surface hoar layer from early March. In this area the surface hoar layer had a stiffer, wind slab above it.
It was a bit surprising to find this surface hoar layer in terrain that is so wind exposed. In the coming days with new snow trickling in and continued moderate winds, we are going to carefully assess how much snow sits above this layer before committing to steeper terrain.
AvCan Northwest,
Wednesday 19th March, 2025 12:00PM
Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Storm Slabs.
Published: Mar 18th, 2025Hudson Bay Mountain NE slopes
West wind was steady during the day across the Prairie with moderate wind transport. We skied from 1670m down to 1450m and conditions transitioned from a stiffer wind effect into soft ankle deep, making for some short but sweet runs. Wind deposit thinned at timberline around the top of Angle Parking, on top of many old skier tracks into the glades.
Jason,
Tuesday 18th March, 2025 1:30PM
Soft Turns at Seaton
We skied southeast and north aspects at treeline today. We observed previous wind effect at ridge crest and a thin crust on south and east aspects that was buried at the beginning of March. Today, we were carefully evaluating the depth and distribution of wind effected snow at ridge crest. We avoided steeper, more connected ridge top terrain features.
We dug a profile on an east aspect at 1600 m. The snowpack was only 145 cm here, and was generally weak and faceted, yet we did not get any results in snowpack tests. That said, we are headed into a couple stormy days. We will be carefully observing how much new snow falls over the coming days as this will be expected to increase the avalanche danger.
AvCan Northwest,
Tuesday 18th March, 2025 1:00PM
Ashman, Man
Skied at Ashman today. Temps stayed cool throughout the day with snow on southern aspects staying cold and no signs of pinwhelling/rollerballing. At ridgecrest strong northeasterly winds have formed hard wind slab. Looking into the North/East side of the bowl looked very wind effected so we decided to ski on the south where ski quality looked better. We were able to trigger a small pocket of wind slab on a southwest facing slope just below ridgecrest. Skiing on the south was good with snow staying cold through the day.
AvCan Northwest,
Monday 17th March, 2025 8:00PM
Silvern lakes
Skied near Silvern Lakes today. It was snowing lightly in the morning with moderate west winds transporting snow. We triggered one size one avalanche with no involvement. East face at TL with a little wind loading. The March 5 SH now has enough snow load and slab properties. After this event we found a few more natural 12-24 hr old size one avalanches on another feature at a similar elevation and aspect.
lucasholtzman,
Monday 17th March, 2025 7:00PM
Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 17th, 2025Lovely at Ashman
Great boot top to knee deep snow at Ashman. Sun crust down 20-30 on South slopes up to ridgetop with slabby snow above the crust that broke out with shooting cracks on the skin track. On North and East aspects snow was great with no wind affect. We didn’t dig but got no results for ski cuts on rolls at the top of a number of small and progressively larger slopes throughout the day.
Jono_Doherty,
Sunday 16th March, 2025 6:00PM
Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 16th, 2025Blunt Q-ball
They are still hauling logs out of the blunts, so the roads remain plowed.
There is great coverage right from the truck, with 15-20 cm of fresh snow on a firm crust. Cut-blocked areas skied well, as the crust remained supportive. Alpine ridges were wind-affected, with some snow settlement under our weight.
Visibility was limited, keeping us just above the tree line and skiing southeast- and west-facing slopes, where we found excellent snow conditions.
No natural avalanches were observed.
lilka.dragowska,
Sunday 16th March, 2025 2:00AM
Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 15th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 14th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 13th, 2025Hankin - AST 2 Obs
A few observations from an AST 2 course, as we toured throughout the Hankin zone today. We found 12cm of new snow, tapering rapidly with elevation, overlying a meltfreeze and suncrust. The Suncrust on the solar aspects is into the Alpine, on the Polar aspects we founds the meltfreeze crust up to 1400m. We did a few snowpack tests - on a NE aspect in an open area, 1350m, we had a moderate compression test result down 20cm on small facets and some surface hoar over a crust. Suspect this layer formed around March 5 ? We also had a hard result down 40cm on the Feb facets. Both tests gave Pops and drops, for fracture character. Yet in an extended column test beside it, we had no propagating fractures. We also dug on a south aspect, near treeline at 1600m. Here in a very sheltered area, we had a snow depth of 160cm, and we found the bottom half completely facetted to ground. The Feb facet layer was down 60cm here, with no test results, and we found the December 7 raincrust/facet layer down 110cm, and it have a hard compression test result, but a collapse/ drop fracture character. Extended Column tests gave no results.
We had no whumpfing or cracking, we saw no recent avalanches, and a few small test slopes we jumped on had no results. The only activity we saw was some loose dry avalanches to <size 1 in very steep terrain, and some sluffing moving with our skiing, in the top 10cm . Weather was cloudy, with convective flurries, and -8c, and calm winds.
Hyland Backcountry,
Thursday 13th March, 2025 12:00PM
Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 12th, 2025Onion obs
Significant wind. Consistent winds and gusts at tree line & alpine all day. Crossloading actively happening. Good travel conditions. Nice snow in the trees. Rock sharks lurking in the alpine.
Saw a few fresh natural 0.5 wind slab on a single south facing slope. No other signs of instability even with the wind but we were very cautious.
abbydell,
Wednesday 12th March, 2025 1:00PM
Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 11th, 2025Hankin
Today, we skied at Hankin and went to try to find a new location for the weather station. After spending some time doing weather station things, we dug a snow pit just above the warming hut and found 150cm of snow. In compression tests, I was able to produce hard results on the Dec facets at the bottom of the snowpack. I was not able to repeat the results in a second test. The rest of the snowpack looked well settled. We observed a natural size 1.5 avalanche in the morning bowl that had been released in the previous 48-72 hours. Skiing in the alpine looked rugged, with wind-effected surfaces and frozen roller balls speckled throughout the bowls. Skiing below the hut was decent until about 1100m then the crust fell pretty rough.
AvCan Northwest,
Tuesday 11th March, 2025 3:00PM
Microwave Obs
We went up the microwave today and poked around for a few hours. 10-30cm of fresh on crust. Signs of recent wind. No signs of instability when side billing wind affected micro terrain and no naturals.
The underlying crust is strong and 1cm thick and icy.
Little convective this afternoon produce grople.
abbydell,
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, 2025Peeling back the layers of the Onion
Today we rode the Onion. The wind was transporting snow throughout the day with minimal loading occurring on north aspect terrain. We did not observe any fresh avalanches but evidence of cornice collapse and old slab avalanches where observed. The riding conditions are great with lots of preserved snow available. We anticipate the incoming weather will bring a little new snow and avalanche conditions will remain static. Ensure you check the Avalanche Canada website for the most current and up to date forecast
AvCan Northwest,
Friday 7th March, 2025 11:00PM
Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 7th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 6th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 6th, 2025Sinclair
Today, we rode at Sinclar. Temperatures were cooler today than the last few days, with temperatures hovering around -3 in the alpine. Steep southerly aspects were pinwheeling and producing loose wet avalanches up to size one. The sun was packing a punch today, with southern-facing surfaces becoming moist by mid-day. We did an extended column test on a north aspect at 1600m and did not get any results in testing. We found the Feb drought layer down 70cm in this profile. Cornices are starting to get big, so we stayed away from any large run-outs in the heat of the day.
cerickson,
Thursday 6th March, 2025 4:00PM
Tom George
jacob.vos,
Thursday 6th March, 2025 8:00AM
Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 5th, 2025Ze Blunt
Today, we rode in the Blunt. The day was overcast, and temperatures stayed just below zero. The area has received a few centimetres of snow since last week, but not enough to cover up old tracks. Visibility was good, and we observed a Size 2 persistent slab avalanche failing on the February drought layer on a south aspect at 1700m. Riding quality was okay, but there are quite a few old tracks in the area. We need a refresh!
cerickson,
Wednesday 5th March, 2025 4:00PM
Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 4th, 2025Spooky whumps in the Telkwas
Today, we rode in the Telkwas. Up to 1400 m, there was a crust on all aspects, which made for a chattery ride and some overheating of the snowmobiles. Above 1400m, a layer of surface hoar has formed and was present on all aspects and elevations at treeline and above. There was still soft snow to be found in sheltered areas at treeline. We dug a snow pit on a north aspect at 1700m and got very easy results during an extended column test. The fracture propagated across the column while we were cutting out the edges of our column, not a good sign. This result was on the February drought layer down 55cm from the surface. We were also able to get an easy compression test result on this layer. We also observed a size 2 natural avalanche just down the ridge from where we dug our snow pit. We also felt a large whump while we were approaching the dig site.
AvCan Northwest,
Tuesday 4th March, 2025 4:00PM
Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 3rd, 2025Paleo Conditions Report
Spent 3 days out at Paleo peak. Riding quality was decent. Carvable wind pressed snow in the alpine on most aspects. Steep sunny slopes developed a crust on Monday, with small point releases but no slab avalanches observed.
We did not see any signs of avalanche activity while we were out, but there were multiple size 2 wind slabs on northwest to northeast aspects in the alpine that looked to have ran sometime on Friday or Saturday. As well as a large size 3 on steep north aspect that looks to have maybe stepped down from a wind slab. We suspect this also ran sometime on Friday due to the amount of snow on the debris. Although it's hard to tell because of the wind the area had gotten.
ches.sterling,
Monday 3rd March, 2025 12:00PM
Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 2nd, 2025Elliott NE bowl
Elliott NE basin had decent snow, very little wind effect. Intentional car size cornice drop triggered small slab in our line. It may not be representative of stability in the whole basin though.
Yann Bourdon,
Sunday 2nd March, 2025 1:00PM
Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 1st, 2025Soggy at Hankin
Went for a day at hankin to hopefully ski trees and avoid the alpine hazard. The road into hankin is a complete sheet of ice, good studded tires and 4wd or chains highly recommended.
It rained up to ~1300m before slowly transitioning to light snow, there was ~10cm of new snow overnight above these elevations but it is heavy and wet. Temperature was rising as it got towards lunch time at the warming up.
Dug a profile on a NW aspect at 1500m. Found a windslab sitting on top of facets buried 20cm. CTE5 with a sudden planar failure. The recent 10cm sitting on top of this layer is also cohesive and fractured during cutting.
We also identified the weak layer mentioned in the bulletin buried 60cm but it was unreactive to our tests, seems like a probable layer to have a step-down to however.
Skiing was quite mediocre in the runs below the cabin, wet and heavy snow all the way down before transitioning back to the rain.
nick_k_kirk,
Saturday 1st March, 2025 10:00AM
Avalanche on 8
Played in the trees skiers left on 8 and then moved over to the skiers right side of the main bowl. Lead skier rode the ridge between two exposed slopes, size 1.5 avalanche propagated across the right bowl after skier reached the lower ridge. Crown 70 cm, propagated through shallow rocky area and slid on facets close to ground surface. Will upload pictures soon.
cajgaeke,
Saturday 1st March, 2025 8:30AM
Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Deep Persistent Slabs.
Published: Feb 28th, 202510 cm of fresh @ Onion today!
We have a Special Public Avalanche Warning (SPAW) in effect because, even though riding is great in the trees, we’re concerned about large avalanches in steep alpine terrain. Today at the Onion (1600 m), we found 10 cm of fresh cold snow, with wind-loaded alpine features looking suspect. We also observed a fresh natural wind slab at ridge crest that likely ran last night or early this morning on a north aspect.
This wraps up our week in the region, and the recurring theme has been wind slab avalanches in the alpine on north, northeast, and east-facing features. Even though the alpine looked amazing in the sun this afternoon, we’re steering clear of it for now due to about 50 cm of recent snow (from last weekend and last night) sitting on a weak layer of facets from the February drought period.
Have a safe weekend, and please submit what you’re seeing, especially any avalanche activity, to the Mountain Information Network. Thanks!
AvCan Northwest,
Friday 28th February, 2025 2:00PM
Blunt Creek Exploration
We’re still avoiding most of the alpine, as it looks fat and wind-loaded from recent storms and strong winds. Riding in wind sheltered areas at and below treeline remains excellent. Heading into the weekend, there’s a Special Public Avalanche Warning in effect. While the riding is good, the snowpack needs time to settle, especially in wind loaded alpine terrain. Don’t let the lure of good snow draw you into bigger features that aren’t ready yet.
Today, we found the snowpack slightly deeper than the regional average, with 215 cm at 1600 m. Mild temperatures left the storm snow moist up to around 1600 m, but it’s dry higher up. Our test results were unremarkable, but we’ve spent little time in the alpine, where the real problem is. It’s been blowing hard out of the south recently, so there are likely some large, loaded slopes lurking up high.
TL;DR: Riding in the trees is awesome, but steer clear of those big alpine slopes until they’ve had more time to settle.
AvCan Northwest,
Thursday 27th February, 2025 4:00PM
Deep Pow and Sketchy Snowpack
The snowpack is weak and sketchy, but the riding quality is VERY GOOD, stick to the trees and mellow slopes and you’re laughing.
We’re treating the bigger slopes like poisonous snakes, giving them a wide berth because they’ve got us a little spooked. Why? Well, in the Silvern Lakes today, we consistently found 30 to 40+ cm of warm, slabby storm snow sitting on weak, sugary facets, a classic house-of-cards setup. The wind was RIPPING out of the north, further loading the lee slopes, and this problem will take time to settle down.
Luckily, in wind-sheltered areas and in the trees, the boondocking is off the chain and there’s more than enough deep pow to keep you busy, it was honestly hard to leave today!
AvCan Northwest,
Wednesday 26th February, 2025 4:00PM
North facing naturals and deep 🤿 in the 🌲🌲🌲
It’s DEEP in protected areas near treeline, but watch out for steep north facing features in the alpine, we saw three different large avalanches in that terrain that likely ran towards the end of the storm. There’s 20 to 60 cm of new snow on the old surface, and the warm and windy storm has formed the new snow into a slab, especially in wind exposed terrain. That being said, the warm storm snow is bonding better than we anticipated in the Sinclair area. We’ll continue to investigate the bond between the facets formed during the drought, and the recent storm snow, as we conduct our field work this week. Stay tuned.
AvCan Northwest,
Tuesday 25th February, 2025 4:00PM
I'm not married to the icy, I'd rather shoosh
Peeked into the icy couloir(ice cooler or whatever the kids are calling it these days), but between the tight committing entrance, visibility, and uncertainty about the snow below the pinch, we decided to leave it for another day and skied the left side of Little Simpsons instead.
The top was windswept but plenty soft to get an edge, and made for good fast turns. Halfway down the bowl deeper into treeline, one of our crew triggered a recently formed windslab beneath a convexity, but that convexity above did not release. Crown was 20-30cm deep, shot roughly 20m across the steep slope. The rider was on the very end of the crown when it triggered the slab, which shot across the feature and following him down the line. Thankfully he's very fast and nimble, and it didn't catch up to him.
Because of the hangfire lurking above the crown, we didn't linger long enough to inspect the sliding surface or weak layer involved, but it seemed like a ~24hr soft windslab on a firmer layer that resembled the top of the bowl.
Ben.Hallman,
Tuesday 25th February, 2025 12:00AM
Getting stuck 1 million times at Seaton
Ski quality at Seaton was good on mellow slopes but sluffed easily on steeper slopes with a firm bed surface around 10-20cms below.
We arrived to light snowfall and estimate 5cms had fallen overnight.
Temperature was below zero but warm. Winds picked up at ridgetop, blowing from the southwest. Visibility was very poor in the morning but cleared up toward the end of the day.
When we get got visibility in the afternoon we noticed on steep north aspect slopes recent snow and wind deposits had sluffed. In some cases there were more distinct crowns that appeared to be shallow but wide.
We heard a large whumph on a lee slope in the alpine.
Rebekah Richardson Duffy,
Sunday 23rd February, 2025 11:00AM
Low Pow(d)er Defrost
Great Sunday riding at the Mic. Warm conditions with wet, heavy snow below TL, and lighter (chunky blower!) at TL.
Est. 5-10 cm fresh in the thinnest areas, especially in upper TL, where we felt a hard wind crust under the fresh snow. New wind affect was minimal.
Drifted to 20-30 cm in sheltered areas. Didn't feel much of a crust in sheltered/treed areas while riding. Lots of facets though, much of the lower snowpack didn't feel very supportive...
Popped a nice storm slab on a small slope, appx 20 cm, sliding on a thin faceted crust (I think!). We hardly saw any shooting cracks, the warm snow may not have fully consolidated at the time. Would be careful around larger slopes though!
pdski,
Sunday 23rd February, 2025 12:00AM
Seaton
Skiing was pretty good at Seaton today. It has snowed maybe 5cm here in the last few days. Where you can avoid old tracks the skiing and snowmobiling is still quite good, but the old fosslized ski tracks are unforgivingly hard as a rock and need to be avoided.
Some sluffing on steeper treeline slopes where the new snow hasn't bonded yet to the hard old surfaces. Where the new snow fell on softer surfaces we didn't see any signs of instability.
Temperature remained below zero all day (around -2). Minimal treeline winds, although some gusts and snow transport on high alpine ridges. Lost vis around noon when it started snowing at approx 1-2cm/hr. Hopefully it continues and we get enough to provide a full refresh and bury the old tracks!
danielhelm.kz,
Saturday 22nd February, 2025 12:00PM
The Harold Price is Low
Today we went to Harold Price to see how much storm snow has fallen. We drove through the rain at lower elevations up to 1000m where the precipitation turned to snow. The area has been heavily used over the last few weeks and there's a lot of old tracks that are very firm. There is also just enough new snow, approx 10cm to make the old tracks hard to see. We need more snow!
AvCan Northwest,
Friday 21st February, 2025 3:00PM
Snow is falling at Silvern Lakes
Today, we rode at Silvern Lakes. About 15cm of new snow has fallen in the past few days, refreshing riding conditions. In sheltered areas, the snow is unaffected by wind.
We dug a snowpit at 1560m and found 180cm of snow. We were not able to produce any results during a compression test.
Right now, we are looking closely at our upper snowpack with stormy conditions in the forecast. At treeline, around 20cm of new snow sits over 20 cm of faceted snow on a 2-3cm crust from late January. This faceted snow may fail as a weak layer in the coming days with the incoming storm. The crust may act as a great sliding surface for avalanches.
In the alpine, previous drought surfaces were very textured from wind and may not have the same setup as treeline. Moving into this next storm cycle, we will keep an eye on how new snow bonds to the old surfaces.
Snow height is variable in the Silvern Lakes area. We observed as little as 90cm of snow and up to almost 2 meters in sheltered areas at treeline.
There was light snow throughout the day, and temps warming to -1 by noon.
AvCan Northwest,
Thursday 20th February, 2025 3:00PM
Not good at the Microwave
The sledding today at the microwave was not good. In sheltered terrain there was up to 20cm of light snow over the old hard drought layer. In the alpine and treeline that snow has been redistributed and in some areas scoured to the old hard surfaces. We spent the day bouncing off old half covered tracks or being surprised by the hard, slippery drought layer. Forecast snow in the next couple days will increase the hazard.
AvCan Northwest,
Wednesday 19th February, 2025 3:00PM
Silvern Lakes
Bit of a scouting day at silvern today. There are a handful of open creeks on the trail in still but they're passable.
Light S-SE winds all day. As expected the meadows/lakes had excellent powder that made sledding a blast. Alpine has been pretty wind hammered all over either being scoured to rocks or pencil hard snow. S aspects had plenty of wind slab that cracked underfoot.
Skied some mellow pitches down to passby creek and as expected the snow in sheltered areas skied great.
nick_k_kirk,
Wednesday 19th February, 2025 12:00PM
A dusting at Seaton
Today at Seaton we found just a dusting of new snow and no recent avalanches. We observed several small, size 1, point releases in steep alpine terrain likely releasing Saturday evening while it was snowing or with some solar input in the last couple days.
The recent dusting of snow (~3cm) just covers the previous sustrugi and wind effect. We opted to take advantage of the less inspiring riding to brush up on our rescue skills. We practiced companion rescue and crevasse rescue rope systems.
AvCan Northwest,
Tuesday 18th February, 2025 12:00PM
Avalanche Burial at the Back of Boulder Creek
muskosfquko9,
Sunday 16th February, 2025 3:00PM
Ashman
Stayed below tree line to do some exploring at Ashman. We found about 20 cm powder on top of the January crust. The snow was variable - powder, facets, sun crust. Open areas around 1300 m had about 2 cm of sun crust. Sheltered areas had up to 5 mm surface hoar.
colleenath,
Saturday 15th February, 2025 12:00AM
AST 1 at Hudson Bay
We had a beautiful morning on our AST course with calm winds, clear skies, and temperatures around -12C. We observed some surface hoar growth in sheltered, shaded treeline areas and faceting in surface snow.
In the afternoon winds were blowing with moderate to strong gusts from the northwest. We observed snow transport at ridgetop and across the Prairie (exposed treeline).
~Stay Wild Backcountry Skills~
made.mart,
Saturday 8th February, 2025 12:00PM