Pine Pass
Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 28th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 27th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 26th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Wind Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Mar 25th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 24th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Persistent Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Mar 23rd, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 22nd, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 21st, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 20th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 19th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 18th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 17th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 16th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs.
Published: Mar 15th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs.
Published: Mar 14th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs.
Published: Mar 13th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs.
Published: Mar 12th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 11th, 2025Avalanche 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, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 7th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Storm Slabs.
Published: Mar 7th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 6th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 5th, 2025Avalanche 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, 2025Winter In The Right Spots
<p>There is still soft snow and wintery conditions if you find the right spots. Multiple crusts in the upper 50cm of snow extend to ridge top on sunny slopes but there is soft snow in the shade. We enjoyed some late season powder in steep, shady trees and plopped some donuts in the Azu Bowl. By afternoon the surface was moist again where the sun was shining. At lower elevations (below 1300m) the snowpack is now quite moist and rapidly melting along the lower accesses. </p>
northrockiesfieldteam,
Friday 14th April, 2023 5:50PM
Rotten Goods
<p>Day started off wet with rain in the parking lot up to about ~1200m where it turned to snow. Snowpack was ~20-30cm of hot pow overlying a firm snowpack. 1 older avalanche was observed under a cornice at Tree line on an East aspect. </p>
Trapper Gilowski,
Saturday 8th April, 2023 8:10AM
Wind + Snow = ........
<p>Today Morfee delivered great views and hard, wind pressed snow along the ridges we explored. Lower down, we were able to find a bit of soft stuff in the trees. With winds forecasted to increase this weekend, we paid extra attention to the amount of soft snow that hadn't blown away yet. While it doesn't look like much, we think that it's still enough snow to build windslabs that we'll be mindful of.</p>
northrockiesfieldteam,
Thursday 6th April, 2023 5:10PM
Mount West and Wheelies
<p>We heard rumors of 30cm new snow in Pine Pass, over the weekend. So we rode up Mount West to check it out. Initially we rode cautiously as we knew from our previous trips that the new snow may have fallen on a variety of crusts, facets and surface hoar that may have not bonded well with the new snow. We started out first by digging down and testing this interface. There were no results but we found one to two crusts in the top of the snow pack. Then we went hunting for windslabs, starting with small low consequence slopes before stepping it up. The results were just good riding.</p>
northrockiesfieldteam,
Tuesday 4th April, 2023 5:40PM
Hooks and Marbles
<p>With low hazard at treeline, we decided to step out into larger terrain today as we rode the Bijoux to Mt West loop. While we still used simple group management measures like one on the slope and having a spotter in a safe regroup (just in case windslabs are lingering in isolated pockets), we hot after it in big terrain. The widespread surface hoar on most slopes may point to hazards in the future, but for now was a sign that there had been no wind in the area recently. On our way back along the pipeline to the Bijoux parking lot we saw roller balls and small loose wet avalanches that confirmed the afternoon sun is having an impact on southern slopes and lower elevations. </p>
northrockiesfieldteam,
Friday 17th March, 2023 5:40PM
Who Put That Drift There?
<p>The north winds were howling today at Bijoux. This reverse loading pattern continues to move snow from deep northerly slopes onto the southwest side. The blowing snow was rapid piling drifts, covering trails and forming fresh, touchy windslabs on hard old snow. In spots, these deposits were 40cm deep which made for difficult trail breaking (and re-breaking). Meanwhile, the usual suspects for wind slabs are being stripped to rock and old snow while the cornices slowly erode. We had fun watching the shooting cracks as we cut small convexities and drifts but stayed well away from larger slopes. </p>
northrockiesfieldteam,
Friday 10th March, 2023 5:20PM
Sunshine Snow on Sunny Slopes (5x fast)
<p>Strong, northerly winds have been reverse loading up high at Mt Morfee. While this has left our typical ski lines scoured and hard, it also left wind slabs and soft snow in unexpected places. We enjoyed softer snow in sheltered openings on sunny, southwest aspects with views of the lake. </p>
northrockiesfieldteam,
Thursday 9th March, 2023 6:10AM
Pics of avalanche seen from highway
<p>Second time trying to upload pics of the crown seen while driving through the pine pass this morning. Hope it works this time!</p>
danielhelm.kz,
Sunday 5th March, 2023 3:30PM
Seen from hwy
danielhelm.kz,
Sunday 5th March, 2023 1:00PM
Seen from hwy
danielhelm.kz,
Sunday 5th March, 2023 1:00PM
Cold winds blow
<p>Chilly day (-15 with Light to Moderate NE winds) in Hasler with poor visibility, riding quality was best in the trees where the snow was unaffected by the wind. Reverse loading was taking place and becoming reactive to sled triggering in immediate lee features. Several large glide cracks were also observed and one older slide size 2.5 on a NE aspect. </p>
Trapper Gilowski,
Saturday 4th March, 2023 8:30PM
Blower pow
<p>Snow on steep slopes was sliding as we rode past. 2 feet of new fluffy pow. Didn’t seem any sliding or cracking in old snow but wasn’t worth the risk on steep slopes considering we seen the new snow already sliding and didn’t want to have a combination of reactions </p>
ericwheeler7,
Friday 3rd March, 2023 6:40PM
Pine pass
<p>No avalanche activity noted. Above treeline, the snow was wind affected, i.e. hard and crusty. Below treeline, a thin crust developed on areas not shaded by trees. Starting in the afternoon, it got windy and snowy. </p>
394averioalto,
Tuesday 21st February, 2023 3:10PM
Hasler Been Wind?
<p>It looks like a lot of people had fun in Hasler over the weekend! Strong winds are redistributing the snow into reactive slabs, which we managed to trigger on a short, steep feature. The main areas were full of tracked up snow so we went exploring in the lower elevation trees in search of fresh. We were not disappointed!
</p>
northrockiesfieldteam,
Wednesday 15th February, 2023 5:20PM
Beaver Fever
<p>We went to Beaver Creek today to see how wind and warming had effected the area. Along the power lines previous warm temperatures had left a thick, breakable crust. Higher up the snow was dense but dry and sled travel was easy. We took advantage of the sunshine and looked into plenty of alpine start zones. There were signs of numerous avalanches from the weekend below ridge lines and cornices. While these old windslabs are now stubborn, there is still plenty of snow available for transport. New winds were forming fresh slabs in the alpine so we stuck to the shorter tree line rolls and benches. It was a good day to practice whips, wheelies and getting around. </p>
northrockiesfieldteam,
Tuesday 14th February, 2023 4:50PM
Rolston Creek
<p>Rainy, wet day at Rolston Creek. The pullout on the left side of green bridge was a bit snowed-in from all the snowplows working on the road, but was dug out fairly quickly.
Snow was wet and heavy until around 1000m, the higher up we went the drier and looser it was. Went up the left side of the bridge (saw tracks heading up right as well) and walked around 1/2 up to the lake. Triggered a few 10cm slabs in the open trees skiing down around 1050m. Saw lots of recent natural slides of the same layer in the open and dense trees. Fairly good snow and skiing!</p>
AnnaFoley,
Monday 13th February, 2023 9:50AM
Deep and windy
<p>Rode Beaver and had to break out the trail in from the trees. Came across a recent slide from storm slab. Triggered a couple 3” storm slab slides on mellower slopes by cell tower hill. </p>
mitch,
Saturday 11th February, 2023 8:50PM
Whoops there it is
<p>Rode the Silver Sands area today. Very warm but still decent quality snow. Dug a pit on a east facing slope at 1100m. Re-active on storm snow layers still. </p>
Darian Armstrong,
Sunday 5th February, 2023 8:50PM
Calazon - a fogging good time
<p>It was a fogging good day, as many goggles were swapped out and pow carves were had. We rode the Calazon and it did not disappoint. The snow was more than we had anticipated and it continued snowing heavy all day. Temps were fairly warm, ranging from -13 at the trucks in the morning to -3 later in the day. Total storm snow sitting around 40cm when we had stopped for lunch in a cut block. There were signs of instability all day, from shooting cracks at our skis to remotely triggering entire ditches, propagating all the way up the road and around the corner. We even noticed the same remote trigger had set off some steeper open trees just above the ditch. We did not venture into alpine, instead we played it safe and stuck to low angle terrain and kept up good group communication</p>
genevievebyl,
Thursday 2nd February, 2023 8:50PM
Avalanches everywhere
<p>
Today we went riding at Bijoux in Pine Pass. We were expecting the avalanche hazard to be high with lots of new snow and strong winds. Within 20 minutes of riding our assumptions were confirmed when we triggered a storm slab from 5 meters away and it propagated 300 meters wide. Further up the trail we rode up on a small terrain feature and a shooting crack appeared across the top. We observed numerous natural avalanches that released yesterday on steep features. We enjoyed riding in the meadows around the cabin where we were far from any exposure to avalanche terrain or run-out zones.
</p>
northrockiesfieldteam,
Thursday 2nd February, 2023 4:40PM
Blue Bird
<p>Chilly day out riding in -20 but hey the sun was shining and made it feel warmer. Noticed a few size 2 avalanches some older ones on North to NE aspects and a smaller size 1 more recent on on a SW from the recent NE winds. We had shooting cracks in wind affected areas but we avoided these areas cause the light to moderate NE winds were chilly so we decided to stick to more protected areas where the snow was better about how. In elevations up to around 1400m there was a crust from the recent warm up now buried by the previous storm 5-10cm. </p>
Trapper Gilowski,
Sunday 29th January, 2023 10:10AM
Tree cookies
<p>With cooler temps and snow in the forecast today we went to check out the action at Mount West. About 5cm of new snow fell while we were riding and the winds were light from the north. The meadows and small features by Mount West were perfect for sledding with the intermittent visibility we had. </p>
northrockiesfieldteam,
Friday 27th January, 2023 4:40PM
Spot the Ptarmigan
<p>We headed to Hasler today to see how the big warm up was affecting the snowpack. Heavy snow, pinwheels, and tree bombs were found up to 1600 m. Strong winds redistributed snow into wind slabs in exposed areas. A test pit in a small shallow feature at tree line showed the facets (sugary snow) were failing near the ground. We used small low angle openings in tight trees, away from run out zones to move around.</p>
northrockiesfieldteam,
Wednesday 25th January, 2023 6:00PM
A Grey Day
<p>We found some powder and a supportive snowpack while sledding at Bijoux. Also, we saw debris from an avalanche, on a wind loaded slope, that happened in the last 24hrs. With 'flat light' and big wind slabs on north to east facing slopes we decided to stick to low consequence terrain. </p>
northrockiesfieldteam,
Tuesday 24th January, 2023 5:40PM
Straight back to the aluminum bowl
<p>Another beautiful day in the Hasler riding area after a receiving a good reset. Only one older avalanche was observed in our travels to the aluminum bowl. Riding conditions were fantastic in protected areas but the majority of the riding that was exposed to winds were not as nice with it being slabby and grabby. Dug a profile at 1450m on a north asp in the aluminum bowl HS 190cm in an open treed area protected from the wind. Extended Column Test results were
ECTN11 @ 170
ECTN24 @ 140
We avoided terrain that we know has rocky out croppings as we know these are suspect areas to trigger the weaker layers buried in Nov/Dec. We also avoided wind loaded areas at ridge top, riding quality is poor in these locations so makes it pretty easy to want to avoid. </p>
Trapper Gilowski,
Sunday 22nd January, 2023 8:20PM
Triple Ps! Pine Pass Powder
<p>We spent the day exploring the terrain in Pine Pass, a new to us area, and found some gems! Valley bottom was wet, with the temperature hovering around 0. The snow was heavy up to 1100m (at least to my coastal snow standard). We had light to moderate SE wind throughout the day. We spent the day below treeline and did not observe any signs of instability.
Ski pen was about 20cm and HS was 210 @ 1200m. Alders in the lower area are not completely buried yet, but skiing around them was very manageable.
Temperature recorded at 1200, -3C
</p>
cbourq,
Sunday 22nd January, 2023 10:10AM
Warm, wet, and squishy
<p>Great day in Calzon again for an AST course. Snow was pretty good especially closer to the trees on the south side of the valley. There’s an inversion around 1100m, it was -6 at the truck and 0 at 1200 m. We found a rain crust everywhere we went, just a couple cm down, and it was reactive in tests. Failures on a couple storm layers down 8 and 20 cm in a pit, but no propagations, and the lower snowpack is now really solid.
Snow was starting to get quite wet and heavy by the end of the day. </p>
dave,
Sunday 15th January, 2023 4:50PM
White rabbit
<p>A snowfall warning for Pine Pass had us traveling to Mount Morfee keen to check how much snow, (about boot top, but it rode deeper than that) how it was bonding with the old surface (we could see blowing snow at ridge crests otherwise it stuck to where it fell) and how the persistent weak layer was responding to the extra load (we're waiting on visibility to improve to answer this one) The new snow on top of a supportive snowpack made for fun sledding in the trees. </p>
northrockiesfieldteam,
Friday 13th January, 2023 6:10PM
Low snow shallow hole
<p>Went out for a ride in Hasler to see what we could see. We are dealing with a lower than average snowpack year. This is making travel harder in spots and on others a little easier, shallow snowpack means smaller holes. Knowing that we have a shallower snowpack and the faceted weak layer we chose to avoid steep terrain with rocky outcrops as we know this would be a likely spot to trigger avalanches. While traveling over a few ridges we suspected to have wind slabs we didn’t find them in those location but it was evident that the wind has been blowing as ridge tops were stripped down and cornices formed in isolated locations. </p>
Trapper Gilowski,
Sunday 8th January, 2023 7:50PM
Pretty Solid Day
<p>Pretty good day for an AST field day in Calzon. Snow was pretty set up but with a nice layer of powder on top. If you cut through the middle there’s still no bottoms though, and overall it’s pretty thin. We did see the Christmas storm layer reacting a bit in our pits, (CT22-25 SP down 70, ECTX) but no other signs of instability anywhere. Day was warm (plus 3 by end of day) and started getting windy in the afternoon. Things are looking up, we just need a reset!</p>
dave,
Saturday 7th January, 2023 7:50PM
Walking in a Winter Wonderland
<p>A Powder King backcountry ski day with low visibility and a surprise 10cm made for some fun turns in open mellow trees. A temperature inversion meant that temps were just below freezing at the hill. The weak layer buried in December was here, like everywhere else.</p>
northrockiesfieldteam,
Friday 6th January, 2023 5:00PM
Digging down
<p>Hasler was looking pretty tracked out and in need of some new snow. We kept our terrain choices to small slopes as the weak layer buried in December is easy to find and still producing results in tests. By connecting small slopes and benches we were able to ride up in to the alpine without exposing our selves to large steep slopes. </p>
northrockiesfieldteam,
Thursday 5th January, 2023 5:00PM
Ghost trees
<p>Bijoux riding area in the Pine Pass still has a layer down around 40cm that is releasing and propagating in snowpack tests. To help us stay vigilant when dealing with “low probability, high consequence” problems hiding in the snowpack we discuss our “mindset” and riding expectations before heading out. We carry these with us throughout the day to help combat bias and guard ourselves against the temptation to expose ourselves to bigger terrain when it looks and feels good. Today our mindset included discussion about the persistent slab, and we set our expectations to riding meadows and small terrain features. </p>
northrockiesfieldteam,
Tuesday 3rd January, 2023 6:10PM
Disappointment Sandwich
<p>Little rip into the Hasler riding area today was able to dig a quick pit HS 130cm with two crusts in the upper pack from the warm Christmas storm. First crust is down 4cm and pretty thin with a 3cm thick crust down 20cm. Pit was dug near TL at 1350m. Down 40cm is where the facets start from the cold snap we had before the holidays. We had stubborn test results, ECTN18 on 3mm facets down 40. We didn’t get into any high elevations to take more observations, with the broken skies visibility was limited but from what we could see there where no new avalanches. </p>
Trapper Gilowski,
Saturday 31st December, 2022 6:50PM
Roadside Hero
<p>Observed multiple (10+) small avalanches on hwy 97 roadsides and other slopes in size 0.5-1.5. All on steep north aspects. They appear to be about 24 hours old. The one in the photos at least was failing on a surface hoar layer above a hard crust down about 20 cm. Below the crust is mostly facets and depth hoar to ground. </p>
dave,
Friday 30th December, 2022 2:10PM
Hasler
RickyAlpha,
Wednesday 28th December, 2022 7:30PM
Upside Down All Around
<p>Riding at Bijoux was tricky today with over half a metre of dense moist storm snow resting on low density facets (large, loose grained snow) that make up the bottom half of the snowpack. This recent storm snow has consolidated into a slab that was reactive in our snowpack tests. We will be sticking to small features and avoiding thick to thin spots while we further investigate how the recent storm snow is bonding to the old surface.
</p>
northrockiesfieldteam,
Tuesday 27th December, 2022 7:00PM
Le moray
<p>Riding was great. there was a rain crust at lower elevations and a slight crust up higher from warmer weather. -10 down by the highway and close to 0 up top.
</p>
Michael miller ,
Tuesday 27th December, 2022 4:50PM
Hasler
<p>Please watch for grooming drag by parking lot. </p>
michaelddelesky,
Monday 26th December, 2022 10:00PM
Bijoux
<p>Low compact conditions. Sunny and warm most of the day then turned to storm and windy nearing the end of the day.</p>
bubs800,
Friday 16th December, 2022 8:00PM
Burnin fuel n taken obs
<p>Burnt some fuel checking out the Hasler riding area. The day was cloudy with some freezing mist all day long. HS at BTL was 65cm @1150m with the Nov 24th MFcr down 25cm. As we poked up the trail we found the snow to be a bit deeper ranging from 115cm average to 165cm in loaded features with the crust being down 40-45cm Avg @TL crust was observed at 1530m. We sled cut mini golf features and got some shooting cracks across the face. High -11 Low -16. Winds were calm. Stick to the trees for powder pleasure as exposed areas are heavily wind affected. - Obs from Darian Armstrong </p>
Trapper Gilowski,
Sunday 4th December, 2022 8:00PM
Test Flight
<p>Today some of the NoRo team got out to shake off the rust and scope things out in one of our frequently visited spots We spent the day troubleshooting sleds, getting a look at the snowpack and getting back into sledding. The trail into Bijoux is pretty good with about 1m of snow above 1100m. Recent NE winds have been scrubbing the alpine and things up high are still pretty bony. We were definitely careful of rocks and logs hidden in the shallow snow, but overall it looks like its shaping up to be a good start to the season!</p>
northrockiesfieldteam,
Tuesday 29th November, 2022 7:15PM
Still Too Early
<p>Pre-season training and skills practice for the Highmark team Sunday, and there’s still not much snow out there. In the cut blocks there’s 30-50 cm, with lots of rocks, stumps, trees etc. We stuck to the road and didn’t get around very much, but it was awesome to get on the snow again and blow some rust off!
One thing we saw of interest was a layer of small Surface Hoars down about 4 cm and reactive. There isn’t much snow yet but it’ll be interesting to see what they do when they get covered up more.
Keep praying for snow!!</p>
dave,
Monday 21st November, 2022 9:30AM
Slowly starting
<p>It’s definitely early, but there’s a decent base starting already out there! Went partway up Powder King and messed around in some willow choked creek draw.
There’s about 60-70 cm of snow, with 20-30 cm new powder from the last storm cycle overtop a crust, then a mix of crusts and facets to ground. The new NW wind is blowing snow around, and we saw little pockets of wind slab, but nothing serious below tree line. Overall was nice to get out and encouraging to have first turns on Nov 5!</p>
dave.mustang,
Sunday 6th November, 2022 9:30AM