Powell River

No signs of cracking or whumpfing on the way up. Generally good conditions but noticeable wind effect depending on aspect. SW facing slopes were pretty wind affected, while NE aspects showed more obvious wind loading. Dug a quick pit near the top of the ski area, found about 30 cm of wind-loaded snow sitting on a really solid, consolidated base. Did a quick informal column test with no major red flags, but the wind slab was definitely present. Skiing was a bit variable due to wind deposits, soft and light in sheltered areas, but more inconsistent where the wind had moved things around. As temps warmed into midday, the snow got a bit heavier. No signs of natural avalanche activity or major movement throughout the day, though we did notice some minor sluffing/slab reactivity on steeper slopes. Kept things conservative, stayed away from steep terrain and focused on lower angle slopes where the turns were good.

The previous worry layer (at 50cm below surface at that location) is of no concern and the snowpack is well bonded. However, a new crust has formed just 2 cm below the surface of recent dusting of new snow. This surface layer has started to facet in the past clear nights. There is some low density (2cm) snow just below that crust that sheared off very easy. With the forecast of up to possibly 50 cm of new snow on top of this crust arriving with high winds I would suggest high caution for the remainder of the week. Saturday is forecast to be sunny, so be careful, weekend warriors! I suspect wind slabs and storm slabs to be very reactive.

Surface conditions consisted of approximately 10 cm of new snow over a dense, supportive and well settled snowpack. A shallow hand pit (90cm) was dug to assess the upper snowpack. Under aggressive loading (forceful jumping), minor movement was observed at approximately 40 cm below the surface, suggesting a reactive layer under high force. Total snow depth in the area is approximately 180 cm, with an estimated 80 cm overlying the settled January rain crust.. Wind affected terrain was assessed on steeper slopes. Reactive wind slabs were observed in exposed areas, with slab releases occurring during testing. As a result, travel was limited to sheltered terrain, avoiding wind-loaded and exposed features.

Dug a snow pit just below the ridge at the margin of Freda Bowl. Total snow depth measured 90 cm of dense recent storm snow overlying a firm January rain crust and hard pack. Total depth 180cm Compression Test (CT15) produced a sudden planar failure on the 5th elbow tap at 40 cm, down on a buried weak layer. Snow was a bit heavy to ski. Coverage is still a bit thin in the denser trees. Open areas had good coverage.

Great conditions high up. Probe strike at 1315m was 165cm. 50cm of powder on a crust.

40cm of fresh powder over a very hard crust layer. Seems very well consolidated, no movement detected.

Camped on shoulder of Freda Sat 2-14 to Mon 2-16. About 5-6 inches unconsolidated fresh snow since Friday. Still early season conditions despite new snow,very low coverage in dense trees along Freda trail. Clear and very cold Sat night with decent hoar frost crystals in AM. Crystals resisted Sat sunshine and were present most aspects at sunset. Zero wind Sat-Sun with light wind starting Mon morning. Dusting of new snow Sun night with heavy snow falling as we left around 10am Mon.

10 centimetres of moderately wet powder on the old crust Snowed as predicted after noon. No red flags observed

Super sunny, above the clouds line all day. Warm, 6°C. Road extension up to new Vic Col trail head washing out and super patchy/sketchy in places. Parking at trail head dodgy and boggy. Epic views all round

25-35cm of new snow resting on the January 1st crust. Dug a rough pit, did an Compression Test, had a collapse on the crust at 23. Storm slab was not very cohesive. Witnessed some wind slab on exposed terrain. We measured the base around 120-130cm.

Snow depth 125cm at 1400m. Dug a very quick curiosity pit, found a solid crust at ~25cm. SC failure @ moderate at that layer inteface in a compression test. Ski cutting convexities produced some resistant slabbing. Snowed heavily through the day, ~20cm fresh on our trail by the time we left. Ski pen 40cm, light snow.

Snow conditions are currently quite poor. A few CM's of dust on a crust. Nicer snow above 1400m

Probed 120cm at the summit and 100cm at 1400M, which is in sync with the 100cm i probed on the sentinel ridge 2 days ago. Today's snow was much different though, weak crust on top from last nights freeze, but today was well above 0 and so was yesterday by the looks of things, so snow got heavier as the day went on. Some pinwheeling noticed.

Dec 24th 2025. Emma Lake area, dug a pit at elevation 1450m, west-facing, alpine terrain : Snow depth 195cm, Melted-Ice crust at 90cm depth. CT test showed : -fracture at 10 + 20cm (wrist tap number 3). Probably overnight snowfall (Tues. Dec 23rd 2025). -Fracture at 60cm depth (elbow tap number 6). -Fracture 85cm down (shoulder tap number 10). We skied west and NW-facing, low-angle terrain and avoided steep, higher-consequence runs. Emma Lake is not frozen yet.

Conditions are amazing right now. Started skinning at the beta lake intersection. On the decent I noticed the top 15 cm of fresh snow chucking up into small blocks on one short steep slope. It didn’t propagate more than a couple feet or slide.

Parked at 800m in approximately 30cm snow depth. Probed approximately 1m depth at 1400m although snow depth was varied due to wind. -4C at cabin, -1C at parking. Lots of work breaking trail. The ski down was lovely being mindful of thin coverage.

We heard through the grape vine about the large avalanche that is blocking the road up to the Mt Freda trail head. So obviously we had to go and see for ourselves. At 800 m in elevation the Alpine main is blocked by debris from what was at least a size 3+ avalanche that ran during the extreme warming event in early March. While it may be possible to cross the debris on a machine with some digging involved, we chose to park there and hop on the ol two plank express. Road travel was quick up to the start of the trail. Freezing level was ~950 m and the 5 cm of new snow became drier as we climbed. The new storm snow was falling on a thick 5+ cm crust layer in open areas, but still breakable in the trees. Ski quality wasn’t anything to write home about, mostly heavy dust on crust.

The preview of the knuckles just looked so enticing yesterday that we had to come back today and get deeper into the terrain. Since we were not able to get our big rig up the Beta lake road, we took the long way around and sledded up to above the Vic Cole cabin and then skied down to the Beta lake road from there. At the beginning of the day there was a mostly supportive crust on everything that was warmed by the sun yesterday. By noon this had softened to a moist surface everywhere. We headed up to the little knuckle, dug a pit, and then took a lap into Gnarnia. In our pit we found sudden resistant moderate results where the most recent storm snow meets the crust. This same result did not propagate in our extended column test. With some terrain management techniques we felt comfortable heading up to the shoulder of the little knuckle. On our climb back to the ridge we got a good view of the slab avalanche from yesterday and saw that it was triggered within the storm snow from a piece of cornice falling. One of those common warm day hazards. From here it was some amazing spring skiing and then the trip back out to our sleds to get home. Dear Knuckles, I think we are in love!

We spent the day touring around the Vic Cole Hut on Sentinel Ridge near Powell River. It was a late start after taking the ferry and we staged on the Vic Cole Road at ~1100 m. At tree line, we found 30-35 cm of new snow from yesterdays storm. The new snow overlies a supportive crust at treeline and above. As well as wet snow at lower elevations. Across the valley towards the Knuckles, we saw many size 1 wet loose avalanches on solar facing slopes from today’s warming. As well as a notable size 2.5 slab avalanche on the north aspect of little Knuck. Ski conditions were warm and heavy but made for decent spring turns. Big thanks to the Knucklehead Winter Recreation Association for showing us around their backyard and sharing some local knowledge!

Size 1 avalanche at Mount Freda on a west aspect at 1550 meters. Triggered by the weight of one skier skinning. Saw some cracking just before it slid, also noticed lots of high wind from the north and blowing snow. Fairly light powder with a crust at lower elevations.

Pack before this recent snowfall was well settled, a few minor moderate shears in CT's on precipitation particles, no surface hoar at treeline on S aspects. Huge surface hoar below treeline which might now pose a problem in specific terrain features (steep, open chutes) with the new snow on top. However, the coming rising FL will probably take care of this. Tried to post this 3 days ago but couldn't log in, sorry.

Evidence of windloaded pockets on crossloaded NW lee features. Recent windslab/cornice Na failures (48-72hours). Up to 5 crowns resulting from cornice failure, up to Sz 2.

CTM(12) down 11cm on slight sun crust and pp's, CTM(15) down 25 on small surface hoar, CTH(21) down 35 cm on pp's, CTH(26) down 60 on small facets on thin crust. There's another very significant temperature crust down 100cm, about 4 cm thick, but starting to crumble and no amount of shear and hard burping got anything going. Snowpack this close to the Coast (on the solar aspects) is fairly well settled. However, SE wind was blowing like stink all night and during the day and surely would have created significant wind slabs and cornice build up. The avalanche problems here today in the backcountry of Powell River would have been less the storm slab but much more the wind slab problem on NW, N and NE aspects. GREAT powder on south facing aspect from last night's 15 cm HN.

The day started out with cold, dry snow. Hand pit tests showed a 15cm slab of new snow sliding easily on older snow below. Below that another 15-20 of old snow moved more stubbornly above a breakable crust with 4cm of faceting grains on a top of a solid crust. We couldn’t get any results on these layers initially with ski tests on steep, low consequence slopes. We started out skiing sparsely treed south facing slopes, up to 35 degrees, but mostly 30 and under from 1300m down. Knowing the windslab, PWL & expecting significant warming we opted to stay out of TL & ALP terrain. By 12:30 our blower cold snow turned to warm heavy powder. Testing the same low consequence steep ski slopes on our next lap up we now observed the 15cm later collapsing and producing cracks under our skis. We went for one last low angle run on south facing slopes and then headed for north aspects, keeping it to 30 degrees and under. The north aspect snow was dryer as expected, but we could still produce easy sliding on the layer down 15cm both with skis and hand pit tests.

Probed NE facing slope last ridge before bowl. Probe did not hit solid ground over 300cm. Dug pit 70 cm to very consolidated crust that continued very deep. Probed with 60cm removed and still did not hit solid ground. Approx 60cm new snow over old consolidated crusty snow. Block test showed 3 layers that separated above the crust possibly 3 separate storm layers of snow.

Stuck to low risk terrain. No visible signs of avalanches in alpine or treeline visible. Dug two pits to assess snow pack. Pit 1 - South East facing slope below Freda ridge showed a weak layer at 30 cm. Below 30 cm the snow showed strong consolidation. Around 70 cm there was visible granular snow deposits from early season. Total snow depth 115 cm. Pit 2 - North West facing slope below Freda ridge showed a weak layer at 10 cm & 40 cm. 40cm showed ice layer approx 1 cm thick. Below 40 cm the snow showed strong consolidated. Total snow depth 230 cm.

Snow heavy at 850m but became lighter with increase in altitude. Snowshoe penetration 25cm in deepest areas.

Great day in the knuckleheads Did a CT and a ECT. No result on the ECT. The CT showed a main crust at about 55cm from the top bonding well with the fresh snow above it. No result on the CT either.

Great day skiing off of Sentinel Ridge from the saddle through the "playground" down to the old fsr. Bootpen 25cm, 30-40 cm on crust. 5-10mm SH forming.

30-45 cm new in the last 48 hours 1:15pm 1390m, -2, light snow 1:50pm +2, light misting rain Wind SW 30 km/hr gusting 40 km/hr Depth of snow 195 cm (hit dirt with the probe) Probe hit crusty layers at following depths: 100cm, 130cm, 170cm - took 4 tries each to bust through at 130 & 170 Depth of snow pit 100cm (super solid at 100cm) CT 17 - 30cm CT 24 - 45cm 70cm to 100 cm was set up hard Riding Quality: OK to terrible by 2pm Snow Conditions:Deep new snow, rain on top We rode: Mellow slopes, open trees We stayed away from: steep slopes, alpine, and **tree wells The day was: stormy & wet Avalanche conditions: 30-45cm new in the last 48 hrs. we did not see any avalanches re: low visibility, no whumfing or drum-like sounds (we departed before that set up), 1pm to 2pm temp rose over freezing and light rain precip, some pinwheeling off the banks on the access road out.

First “tour” up to Beta Lake Weather: Light wind from the north in the morning Sunny to cloudy in the afternoon Rise to above 0° Snow: 10 cm on average with tiny pockets of 25 cm at most. :) A thin crust in the morning Wet and heavy

Another great day in Gnarnia via tracked quad to end of Beta Lake Road (E100). Current road conditions at bottom of post. Snow: At the end of E100, there is a 1-2” breakable crust with dense, supportive powder underneath. Boot penetration to the knees, but ski penetration 6” or so while skinning. Not bad! The ridge top is wind scoured. We rode Gnarnia trees (N aspect), which was decent powder skiing. Heavier than the February jackpot, but still light enough for fun to be had— no crust! I could penetrate to about 50-60cm with my ski pole. Weather was a mixed bag, but overall felt fairly warm. Sun, cloud, sleet, and light snow through the course of the day. No pit, sorry! We observed the remains of some natural avalanche action on N and W alpine slopes (see pics) including what looked to be cornice-triggered slides on W Face Little Knuckle and on the slopes below the N Face of Little Knuckle. The latter is a bit of conjecture— large debris were visible at around 1200m below the corniced ridge of the N Face of Little Knuckle. The actual slope that may have slid isn’t visible from Gnarnia… so 🤷‍♂️. We did not feel or see any signs of instability on the slopes we rode in Gnarnia. Roads: Clear to the start of E100. Patchy to the second washout under the waterfalls… which has a small new wash out! A few rocks had to be moved, but it is passable by quad. Further up on E100 pallet snow bridges are holding up well with 4-6ft snow walls on the exposed creeks.

Heard some snowfall around cliffs several times throughout latter parts of the day. Monday Feb 17th heard lots of activity of snow fall in the eldred valley watershed

We dug several pits on several aspects, same elevation. Found only easy results in the newest 10cm of recent snow. Tried to find shears on the various crust layers between 40 and 60 cm down but only got uneven breaks. However, facets were certainly observed at that depth above and below various crust layers. Considering the massive amount of surface hoar observed about 9 days ago, I'd still be weary of Northerly aspects where it might have been preserved. However, we also had rapid warming in the past 24 hours. Deeper snowpack (below 80cm) is well settled.

Group of 2 Ski touring E branch to Hillton area. 4-6 inches of fresh powder on top of a crust layer. No avalanches heard or seen but be advised of the crust layer. Both of us heard whoompfs when checking snow in cut blocks.

+\- 50cm new snow from recent storm cycle. Widespread rain crust up to 1400M and above. Large crown, slab avalanche observed Big Knuck NE face.

Snow levels were 220cm at 1450m SW aspect, no signs of instability on the sentinel, but there was a slab slide on the NW of the big knuckle. There was a crust layer (1.5 cm) on top of 30cm of moist powder snow, that broke easily but trapped you under it after.. would’ve been a better day for a walk. Started to snow lightly around 12:00 and was snowing heavily by around 14:00 Had about 5cm of accumulation.

10 - 20 cm of new snow on top of a thin crust that decreased with elevation. With the well-settled snow below, it skied well. I suspect it might disappear above 1500m. There were a few storm interfaces but little evidence of instability or propagation. Snowpack was 170cm at 1400m north aspect, and the earlier crust was solid and down 50 to 60cm. We could see evidence of cross-loading (but didn't travel in the alpine). There were no avalanches other than a few small deposits out of steep, unskiable terrain.

12cm new snow on rain crust.

Travelled on all aspects today up to 1600m.There were no signs of instability and felt comfortable stepping out into steeper and more exposed terrain. It was pretty thin snow below 1200m, with boot-top skiing on a supportive crust that covered most early-season hazards above 1300m. West aspect at 1500m, the snowpack was 140-170cm. Widespread surface hoar, even on ridgetops and lower angle southerly terrain.