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It was a mild, sunny day. We could see far and wide and could only see some wet loose debris out of steep, southerly slopes from the past few days. The snow surface remained dry at 2000 m on all aspects but south, although all of the snow had been hammered by weekend traffic. Cornices are large along alpine ridges but we didn't see any failures.

Quick test profile at 1970m, we had repeated compression test results down 30cm on a Storm interface. An extended column failed partial block at the true storm snow height of 55cm. The snow pack was right side up. A boot penetration done resulted in 80cm. Signs of wind effect were noted on high alpine slopes, but remained soft in our ride area of sheltered elevations. Storm snow showed varying levels ranging from 20cm-65cm throughout the day. Get out and ride!

At Allan Creek we found fresh powder on a supportive base at treeline. The new snow was low density and not cohesive so we felt comfortable riding steep open features. Higher up in the alpine we saw wind blowing snow at ridge crests so we suspected windslabs there and stayed away.

We found sunshine, powder and a spotty persistent weak layer at Allen Creek. The powder was on all aspects with little wind and we didn't see any new avalanches in the back-country. We sled tested all the small steep slopes and little rollovers we could find and that resulted in just good riding. While we did still get results on that persistent weak layer we only saw it on sheltered north facing slopes away from busy riding areas. We decided to stay in the sunshine and enjoyed the new snow away from north facing slopes.

Training - no skiing or riding today.

Allan creek, Sz 1 Sa lookers right of ol’hill climb

We found some great powder to ski in Allen under blue skies and sunshine. The best snow to ride was on shady north and east facing slopes where the sun hadnt hit it. Sunny slopes were also decent but will have a crust on them after today. We noticed one very small slab that was triggered by a sledder on a steep east facing slope (see photo). We dug a quick pit on a north facing slope and found 270cm of total snow, and had no significant results with our tests. After ski cut testing a small steep slope with no results, we felt confident to ski some steep lines in the trees.

3-5 cm storm snow on a 6mm hoar frost with moderate sw wind

Knee busting crust up to about 1400m and then got into some nice skiable snow. About 20cm from the recent storm. No signs of instability observed.

We avoided avalanche terrain today at Allen Creek due to the considerable hazard forecasted, 25cm of new snow combined with gusty wind, and limited visibility. Not being able to see the overhead hazard in avalanche start zones made it an easy decision. Snow pack tests confirmed our belief that the new snow is unstable. Storm snow should bond in the next few days, so for now, mellow slopes and trees is where we are riding.

There was just enough new snow last night to make the skiing decent in Allen Creek today, even though visibility was great. Crusts of various thicknesses are pretty widespread under the new snow everywhere but high elevation north faces so that's where we headed to for the best riding. The rain line last night went up to around 1600m and had dropped to around 1200m as we rode out at the end of the day. We saw one small wind slab that had slid on an east facing wind loaded slope and also noticed some minor cracking around our ski tracks early in the day. Ski cuts on steep slopes however produced no results other than loose dry sluffing. With additional snow in the forecast the wind slabs may get more reactive tomorrow, but should bond quickly with these warm temperatures as well.

Big day. Recent storms dropped 40-55cms of new storm snow on top of a few melt freeze crusts. New snow seems to be bonding quite well on alp and treeline elevations and we felt ok to push some terrain after careful assessment. The wind was the major player today with sustained mod/strong south west winds in the alpine causing heavy transport to lee features. With new load tonight and continued winds, I have concern over the melt freeze crust currently down 5cm that is quite poppy and reactive now. New load and a stiffer slab above will make me affraid of this little sucker. Ride safe.

Once a month on the North Rockies field team we set aside an hour of our day to do some fun rescue practice, and since the riding wasn't that great with the mostly hard and crusty conditions, and only 8cm of new snow overnight - today was a good day for it. It rained down low last night with the snow line starting around 1300m and the snow surface was still wet, not crusty and frozen below about 1600m. We didn't see any avalanches in the area, just the one driving near McBride (see photo). The weather was all over the place with periods of sun, wind, snow and rain. The softest riding is on high elevation north facing slopes.

We found a quiet and sunny Monday in Allen Creek with around 10cm new snow almost covering the weekend tracks. A test profile at 1900m showed the upper 30-50cm snow low density and right side up and sitting over a well-settled snow pack. We were unable to find any persistent weak layers deeper in the snowpack.

Warmer than expected in the sun. Test profile at 1950 m. East aspect. Compression test sudden collapse 41 cm down on a surface hoar/facet layer that was 3-4 mm No results from ECT Observed sled triggered slab avalanche (see photo) Sled Tested steep unsupported slopes with no results.

We spent the day looking for good riding and old buried surface hoar, we found both. The cooler temps have allowed the snow surface to facet a bit which made for some fun soft riding in places that didn’t have old tracks. Even previously wind loaded slopes had good riding and did not feel slabby. Below treeline we were able to find old surface hoar in our profiles about 40 cm below the snow surface, but it was un-reactive in our snowpack tests. We were not able to find the old surface hoar at treeline. It’s actually a pretty special time to be out, the hazard is low and the riding is surprisingly good if you poke out beyond the trade routes.

Great day in Allen today. Lots of fresh powder and blue bird skies. Cloud cover moved in near the end of the day and winds were picking up as well. Didn’t see or feel any Avalanche activity. Did multiple test cuts in wind loaded areas with no results. Signs of wind affected snow in many areas but again, nothing was moving. Didn’t see any avalanches old/new throughout the ground we covered.

Great travel day in Allan Ck. Sunny skies with lots of views. Tons of folks slope testing out there today! Saw 1 natural cornice sz 1.0 avalanche on NE asp @ 2150m. Dug some more looking for that surface hoar and finally got a look at it @ 1940m down 60cm, sz 5-10mm. Giving moderate results in tests (CTM12/CTM16). We haven't found the SH at the storm snow interface down 30cm locals are talking about, but that is the issue with SH it's distribution can be quite variable!

signs of multiple natural avalanches, snowpack still touchy with slab forming in open slopes and trees. easy sudden planar fracture results in test on surface hoar layer down 30-40 cm

An interesting day up Allen Creek - we saw evidence of one large avalanche that we suspect had been triggered by a rider 2-3 days ago (Photo 3). This slab was 30-40cm deep. We found a weak layer of surface hoar in a snowpit down around that depth which may have played a factor in that slide, along with recent south west winds loading up a dense slab in that area. There was still evidence of the widespread avalanche cycle from 10 days ago which saw many avalanches slide on that surface hoar layer - but many of those fracture lines were getting covered up with new snow. We felt the greatest danger out there now is on steep slopes at tree line and below that haven't seen a lot of traffic or previously slid in the last avalanche cycle - which unfortunately may also be where the best riding is! We made conservative terrain choices today and still found some great pockets of fresh powder to ride in. Unfortunately, we noticed a widespread new weak layer of surface hoar is growing on the surface and we expect it to be super reactive when it gets buried by the next storm or two.

Generalized summary from a couple days in the Cariboo's. The Cariboos closer to the town of valemount are showing signs of spice. There is a surface hoar layer down 20-30cms..that is quite reactive in treeline and alp. Reactive to remote and to human triggering up to sz2-2.5 with good propagation. A bit farther south and we were able to push terrain pretty hard with proper assessment. Windslabs in the alp were rock hard in open terrain with some natural wsl sz1.5 in steep alp. Other than that we saw nothing on our adventure worth noting. We are still trying to avoid being on steep terrain in alp and open treeline as well as avoiding possible terrain traps due to the mid December pwls.

Touchy times. Several natural, rider triggered and rider remote slab avalanches ranging from 1-2(acidental/remotes) to sz3(na) in steep and convex lee alpine terrain on a layer of suface hoar from early Dec. Long propagation around terrain features and threw trees ranging fromb20-40cm deep. Lasts nights winds dropped several naturals mid storm and then the pile of riders triggered many in lee alp and treeline terrain. No discussions of involvements heard. Day was mainly sunny with broken clouds, then strong winds and overcast skies smashed down on the alpine in the late afternoon.

We performed 2 compression tests Sudden collapse, 25cm down on light 4 Storm slab failed on surface hoar Failure , 45cm down on medium 4 Unknown layer possibly a rain or warming layer Sudden collapse, 60cm down on hard 1 Failure was on facets below a rain rain crust Results were roughly same on both of our tests

We found large surface hoar (8-10 mm) below 15-20 cm of low density snow at treeline in the Allan Creek zone. There's not enough snow/slab property over this layer where we rode today to be a concern yet, but another 10 cm of snow could be enough to change that.

Out and about in the Allen creek riding zone over the last few days. We saw very little evidence of any natural activity other than some small surface sloughing out of steep alpine terrain. That was until we reached a feature know locally as avalanche ally. Much to our surprise as we looked up to make an assessment out of the fog came a rather large glide crack. The first picture is actually from December 12, 2020. The second shows the progression of the large glide crack from today December 13, 2020. We did a little investigating on an similar slope and found 20cm of large moist facets at the base of the snow pack. Above that we found the November rain crust (seemed to be bonding well). In the upper pack we found surface hoar down 25cm with a well consolidated mid pack and fist snow above. None of our testing produced any notable results.