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RMR Backcountry

Published: Apr 9th, 2026

Spent the day touring around Montana Bowl and Kokanee Ridge today. Travel conditions were challenging with a widespread crust on the surface. As the day progressed and the snow surfaces warmed, travel became more manageable. Skied a southwest-facing alpine slope in the early afternoon that had a few centimeters of soft, moist snow on the crust. With the crust staying strong and intact throughout the ski day, the primary challenges were navigating tricky travel conditions and managing exposure to cornices.

Crust on Crust with Cornices.

Published: Apr 7th, 2026

We went for a walk in the backcountry near RMR today. After a few days of sunshine and high freezing levels, the fast moving cold front last night brought a strong north wind and drastically colder temperatures with only a trace of new snow. What does this equate to? Low avalanche hazard and challenging skiing. With no sun in the forecast, cold temps, and wind, softening of the hard crust was not in the cards today and any powder snow would have been crusted by the recent warm weather. So, we opted for more of a mountain travel day. We didn't observe any signs of recent avalanche activity. The surface crust was thick and supportive, which means avalanche activity is very unlikely. We did observe numerous large and overhanging cornices which we stayed well back from while traveling up the ridgetop. Cornices and challenging ski conditions were the primary hazards on our minds today.

Still Good Skiing

Published: Mar 31st, 2026

Recorded a final State of the Snowpack for March 31, 2026: https://youtu.be/UAZUWnK3S4U "Hey everyone, let's look at the current snowpack and how it's different from most of the 2025-26 season. From roughly January 9 - March 22, a Persistent Slab Problem was listed on the Avalanche Canada website. What's different now?"

Still some powder in Montana

Published: Mar 28th, 2026

Route: Goat peak via Montana bowl ridge; down some Montana alpine and then up Roscoes; back down Almost Heli and N-facing aspects of Kokanee ridge down to Catchers Mitt. Skiing Conditions: S-facing aspects were variable. Pockets of good skiing (10-20cm on a crust), but significant wind scouring towards the ridgelines. Didn't notice much solar effect - I think the underlying crust was from the recent rain/warming event. N-facing aspects generally skied much better. Almost Heli very good. Lots of partially covered avalanche debris further down on N-facing aspects which made for challenging skiing (see image). Avalanche and snowpack: Huge cornices on the lee side of Montana ridge (see images). We were initially concerned about potential for windslabs on lee alpine slopes, but didn't see any signs of reactivity on the route we skied. No cracking or slab activity on Almost Heli or Roscoes. Plenty of avalanche debris from the last cycle, but we saw no evidence of fresh activity. Weather: Overcast throughout; minimal solar warming. Generally light winds; no visible snow transport during the day.

Backside of Montana

Published: Mar 28th, 2026

We went for a nice ski down Radar Bowl (or is it Sonar Bowl?) from Montana Peak today. Travel was tough, especially going up to Montana Peak, where the slopes were scoured by the wind. I should have used my ski crampons, but didn't. Setting a skin track across steeper slopes was a real challenge because the snow would just slide away. For our descent down the backside, we bailed on Option A because we were worried about wind loading. Instead, we chose a more manageable entrance a little further south down the ridge The skiing was decent, with 5-15 cm of snow sitting on a firm crust. It skied nicely on mellower slopes, but the crust was very prominent whenever it got steeper. We didn't experience any notable avalanche problems other than some minor sluffing and small wind cookies. Avalanche debris from old slides was probably the biggest hazard. There were also some pretty big cornices looming.

Montana Bowl

Published: Mar 28th, 2026

Wow what an avalanche

Nice day

Published: Mar 14th, 2026

Nice day out there. Dug a few quick holes at 1300m and 1550m south aspect to see what we were working with and found some concerning stuff. Don’t judge my sidewall it was a quicky. A size large avalanche from last week is also pictured for your viewing pleasure. 70cm of recent snow on top. Followed by a thin layer of crumbly facetty snow, followed by a very weak and moist 10-15cm “crust”, followed by another thin layer of crumbly facetty snow, followed by 1 finger hard snow until the January 26th surface hoar which was down about 180cm. The “crust” was 1 finger hard. We got sudden planar results from a column test on the top of the crust (down 70cm) within the first 10 taps 2 times at both locations. Jan 26th layer went on the 30th hit. Where the sun was hitting, the top 70cm of storm snow became very slabby and reactive when unsupported, such as above sled trenches, but we did not see other signs of instability.

Morning on the Fingers

Published: Mar 13th, 2026

We got up for an early tour of the Fingers this morning. Coming out of the forest, we encountered the debris from a pretty big avalanche (size 2.5-3). There was about 20cm of fresh snow sitting on top, making me think it came down before the storm Wednesday night. We followed an existing skin track up climber's left. The snowpack consisted of about 30cm of fresh snow sitting on a pretty rough crust. We continued beyond the end of the skin track at ~1,300m, hoping to make it a little higher. While my friend broke trail, I dug two hasty pits down to the crust. The first pit slid with a slight pull on the block, and the second slid once I isolated the block. With that, we decided to transition and head down before it got any steeper. The skiing was great, with enough snow to keep us above the crust. We didn't experience any signs of instability on the way down, but we played it carefully just in case.

What the hellie

Published: Mar 11th, 2026

- 25-45cm of fisting blower on nearly impenetrable crust. - S2-S3 from 930 am til we left at 430. - Skied as high as ~2150m, crust was strong all the way up. - Mod wind at ridge crests, did not get to proper ridge top to feel the full power. - sluffing in steep terrain

Now What?

Published: Mar 10th, 2026

15cm of pow over a supportive crust. Looked at layers, previous avalanche activity, and made a State of the Snowpack Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtJ0dutQM9A

Dogwater

Published: Mar 8th, 2026

The day started warm and wet, down low. Couple of large naturals ran down to the skid road below the fingers and burnt knob. By the 3pm the breakable crust was present down to ~1100m

Several Natural Slides in the Lyle Lakes Zone

Published: Mar 8th, 2026

Heavy rain within the last 24 hours.

Heads-up hockey in the Kaslo area

Published: Mar 5th, 2026

Went for a ski in a Star Wars themed zone near Kaslo today. The snow was better than expected with 10-15 cm of dry snow on northerly aspects. A mix of sun and cloud, moderate west winds, and slightly cooler temps were keeping solar aspects dry until late afternoon. We were looking for reactive layers of surface hoar and oh boy did we find one. We didn’t observe any whumphing, cracking, or recent avalanches. However, in our profile at 2200 m on a west aspect (see photo), we got a ECTP 26 down 65 cm on 10-20 mm SH. We avoided large slopes but found some great riding in lower angle terrain.

Cooked

Published: Mar 4th, 2026

She’s cooked! Huge difference from yesterday. Mashed potatoes up to 1750m, raining below 1500m. Fresh snow from last night was sticking to skins on way up, riding on the way down was challenging to say the least. Pin wheeling was occurring everywhere and steep faces on all aspects were shedding debris. No signs of any avalanches today but it seems ripe for them.. dug a pit on a north aspect see separate tab

Trout

Published: Mar 3rd, 2026

On March 3rd Skier remoted a 80cm deep, 20 meters wide, and 40 meters long slab on what we are assuming is large surface hoar on a smooth bed surface. Skier hit a jump on a 12 degree slope and remoted a 20 degree slope 50 feet below him and off to the side, it then pulled out a steeper chunk of slope farther down. Evidence of similar avalanches up to size 2 in the area on convexities as low as 20 degrees, visible cracking between slabs on terrain as low angle as 12 degrees. NE aspect at around 1650 meters in a valley known for growing large surface hoar. We had significant precip ending early March 4th am In the Trout Lake area I am guessing the avy conditions are closer to High or Extreme at the moment given what we saw yesterday and with the recent loading and warm temps.

Macpherson

Published: Mar 3rd, 2026

Took a walk up to around the burnt knob, no signs of any large recent avalanches, and no instabilities, whumpfing, or shooting cracks were observed today. Snow was variable and all crusted out below 1000m, and on solar aspects. See separate tab for snowpack.

Crusty at Crusader

Published: Mar 3rd, 2026

Cruised up to Crusader cabin today. Staged from the bottom of the road. Road is moderately whooped. Thin (1cm) Melt freeze crust with 4-6 mm surface hoar on top on all aspects up to 2200 m. Above 2200 m, North facing terrain still holding dry snow. We observed two naturally triggered size 2 persistent slabs on alpine features at treeline. They likely failed on surface hoar down 40-60 cm and were 2-3 days old. They were on east and west aspects. The cooling temperatures and cloudy skies were likely decreasing the reactivity of the persistent slabs today, but we were treating the terrain cautiously because the snowpack is structurally weak. As the old saying goes.. “Never trust surface hoar”. We were avoiding large slopes over 30 degrees. With snow in the forecast, the surface hoar/crust combo that is currently on the surface will be one to watch.

Complex snowpack, persistent layers are ripe.

Published: Mar 3rd, 2026

Great powder skiing on due North above 1400m, moist snow below.

Avalanche in Radar Bowl

Published: Mar 2nd, 2026

Route: Montana alpine and trees; up Roscoes onto Kokanee Peak; Almost Heli and down to Catchers. Skiing Conditions: Solar-affected aspects really crusty, skied terribly. Pockets of workable conditions in shaded areas. Windswept on Kokanee ridge as you'd expect. N facing slopes in Montana incl. Almost Heli skied wonderfully. Avalanche and snowpack: Whilst on Kokanee Peak summit we heard and then saw the immediate aftermath of a size 2.5-3 slab released on the eastern face off Kokanee Peak. It had a significant run off (~400m) into Radar Bowl. Propagation perhaps ~200m and crown depth of perhaps 60cm. We think remote triggered, most likely by a group further SE past Kokanee peak. One solo skier caught in the runoff (approx 300m below the crown) and carried approx 100m. Partially buried, self-rescued. The guide we were with conducted a transceiver clearance of the debris (nothing found). The caught skier was extracted via heli. Otherwise: no whumphs or cracking on the route we took; nothing released on Roscoes, Almost Heli or the lower down N-facing aspects of Kokanee ridge into Montana. Weather: Sunny and clear in the morning, overcast in the afternoon. Moderate S/SW winds.

Skier triggered + lots of naturals

Published: Mar 1st, 2026

Skier triggered on SW slope on PWL. Skier was not caught. Propagation through the trees about 60 meters wide and ran about 80 meters. Lots of evidence of big naturals in the last 24 hours on all aspects.

Burial with head exposed

Published: Mar 1st, 2026

Self-guided group at Kokanee. 2nd skier triggered PWL on 5th turn and went for a 100m ride, was under the surface, and was able to swim so that upper body was exposed when debris stopped. Lost poles and sunglasses. Bed surface was a MFcr, suspect Feb 13. Snow surface was moist from daytime warming.

Bowl above Haiseldean Lake

Published: Mar 1st, 2026

Meadow Mt rec site

Published: Feb 28th, 2026

AST with Waldorf

Published: Feb 27th, 2026

Touchy Montana

Published: Feb 26th, 2026

Route: Lapped Montana trees three times; keeping out of the alpine; away from the overhead hazard of Mackenzie, and largely below treeline. Skiing conditions: Really good skiing below treeline; shin to waist deep powder and plenty of untracked lines. More open areas in the treeline were heavily wind affected which made for variable skiing. Snowpack and avalanche: Significant snow transport with the wind made for variable conditions; with the snowpack becoming less stable and touchy in treeline. Whilst skinning we triggered a small windslab (50cm crown; ~5m width; ~10m run out to a clump of trees) on a convex microfeature in what is usually a heavily skied ~20' angle slope at treeline. No obs of alpine - avoided entirely given the conditions. Weather: Heavy snow and very strong winds all day; significant snow transport in exposed areas. Summary: A good day to ski the trees!

Greely Trees: a haven in high conditions

Published: Feb 25th, 2026

Route: Greely Trees from treeline (2020m) to boulder field at 1450m; keeping left of fall line to avoid the gully into Highway Bowl. Avoided more open and steep slopes in treeline and above on Upper Playground due to Av conditions. Skiing conditions: Great throughout; mostly skiing shin deep with pockets of waist deep powder. Plenty of pillows; and the woods were dense enough to keep us from any exposure to the strong winds on the wider mountain. Snowpack and avalanche: Plenty of sloughing coming off the the Mackenzie north shoulder - overhead risk on the initial skin. Below treeline great; treeline and above felt touchy but we didn't see or trigger any slabs (not too surprising given we were so conservative on terrain choices). Weather: Dumping all day and windy up top; but pretty protected below treeline. Summary: Great, lower consequence skiing when the forecast is High. Just remember those skins to gain the initial ridge and then to get back to Ripper chair. If you turn around at the boulder field, ascend lookers left (SE), not right or you're in for some gnarly bushwacking.

VoteForMeMin-o-da-Week

Published: Feb 27th, 2026

Pillows, Pillows, Pillows.

Published: Feb 27th, 2026

It was hard to get my head off the pillow this morning seeing little new snow at Whitewater. But when I saw the Redfish Creek snow pillow data I thought it was worth checking out. We were rewarded with 30+cm of fresh snow and some super fun pillow skiing. It was snowing 2cm an hour while we were out. We skied NE asp between 1950-1650m. We ski cut numerous size 1 storm slab avalanches very easily from steep features with crowns 30-45cm. We also saw some evidence of size 1-2 natural avalanche releases during the storm.

London Ridge Natural Avalanche

Published: Feb 25th, 2026

London Ridge Wind Slab Avalanche

Published: Feb 25th, 2026

A nice walk, a mid ski.

Published: Feb 24th, 2026

We saw some recent natural activity including small pockets of persistent slab with crowns down 80-100cm on N-NE features BTL. We also noted a few size 1-2 wind slabs at TL near ridgetop, and a few size 2 slabs SW facing chute features with solar warming. See attached profile for more snowpack info. We tried to stay on NE asp as anything sun exposed tilted west had a thin MFsc.

Wind Did What Wind Does

Published: Feb 22nd, 2026

Avalanche Ranch

Published: Feb 20th, 2026

A pretty spicy afternoon on Kokanee. We skied in Kokanee bowl both of us kicked of decent Avy’s size 1.5, they started slow but gained momentum quick. Small pockets but running far for the size. Crowns are 15-30cm deep. Some others dropped into Africa bowl and cut out a 2.5 skiing down. On their way up and out another smaller slide happened but then remoted triggered numerous other slopes. These slopes had been skied on the way down. These slides in Africa bowl had very impressive propagation. On another note making our way out to slack I have never seen so many people out there without bags or proper gear. Unfortunately they probably won't read this report but it's heads up hockey out there.

Heavy load triggered wind slab

Published: Feb 18th, 2026

Skier hucked off cross-loaded wind lip/cornice triggering a size 1.5 wind slab (20-35cm deep), 50m wide, that ran 200 meters. Skier pulled airbag and stayed on surface. No injuries. No lost gear. Lessons learned described in this State of the Snowpack Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G69ndo3_vrE

Sandon ski laps - touchy conditions

Published: Feb 18th, 2026

Skied out of Sandon. Lots of whumphing and collapsing on a crust about 30 cm deep up to just past 1500m. Skiing at higher elevations was outstanding but coming down size 1 avalanches were very easily triggered on the crust. We exercised caution and cut rolls to trigger slides before skiing down.

Burning Desire 🔥

Published: Feb 17th, 2026

We had a burning desire to ski some fresh pow. We didn't notice any signs of instability or recent avalanche activity, after doing some digging and finding the Jan 28th PWL reactive in tests we stuck with our plan and skied lower angle terrain with no overhead hazard.

Touchy in highway bowl

Published: Feb 16th, 2026

Ski cut a size 2 avalanche from the saddle of the ridge going into highway bowl. Outline of crown and runout shown in red in the pictures. Slab was max 10cm deep right on ridge crest, 4 finger hard wind loaded snow, propagated across the whole feature and down slope, running on early Feb PWL, debris a 150m~ into drainage from start zone. Also triggerd a size 1 by dropping a small cornice on adjacent slope. Skied the hard bed surface, evidence of other recent avalanches upto size 2 in the bowl. Great skiing lower down in the drainage

Touchy

Published: Feb 16th, 2026

Nice day out there. Heli skiers were in the area tracking out the sled runs. Lots of remotes down to January hoar on convex features below tree line while sledding around. Couple skier triggered remotes above treeline, pictured as well. Still very touchy. My observations are: Below tree line, north facing convexities have been consistently going remote on January hoar all weekend. Skied a south east aspect below treeline nearby on Sunday, and saw no signs of instability.

Kokanee Ridge and Bowl

Published: Feb 15th, 2026

Route: Skied Montana Bowl from top of Stoke; descent on S-facing aspects from saddle W of Goat Peak. Ascent up Kokanee Ridge Road; second descent into Kokanee Bowl: S-facing aspects into the main bowl re-entrant; entering at 2250m, short of Kokanee peak. Skied to 1750m then transitioned to catch bottom of ridge road. Skiing conditions: Montana S-aspects skied very well in Alpine, and OK in treeline - a lot better than a week ago. Some evidence of old crust below more recent snow in the treeline in particular. Kokanee skied amazingly all the way down. Deep powder in both alpine and treeline; no crust below the snow even on S facing slopes. Catchers Mitt in workable condition. Snowpack and avalanche: We didn't trigger anything on our descents, albeit largely skied <30' slopes in simple terrain. Felt stable throughout. Some avalanche activity on the N/NW-facing aspect of higher Kokanee Bowl (see images). All small: mixture of size 1-1.5 with evidence of other avalanche debris from previous days prior to the most recent storm. Almost Heli had half a dozen tracks on it by midday; with no avalanche activity observable from below. Weather: Relatively sunny throughout the day with periods of poor vis; low to moderate winds; no precipitation.

Avalanche Thumbs up

Published: Feb 15th, 2026

One skier and a snowboarder were on a supported face above me before I dropped in. They gave me about a minute before either cutting or riding it setting off a grade 2 avalanche behind me. I was the third or fourth person down the slope. The sluff was very manageable. Error on my part traversing a bit back toward the cliff at the end.

Youngs Peak and Seven steps

Published: Feb 15th, 2026

Toured up lookout col, boot deep powder most of the way. Deeper in steeper parts, which made for slower than normal travel. Skied down seven steps (top pitch in some low vis), the new snow seems bonded well. No signs of instability on the way up or down.

Montana avalanche

Published: Feb 15th, 2026

Bear Face

Published: Feb 14th, 2026

Our group headed up to Bear Face through the cut blocks and the forest. It started snowing heavily around 11:30am and didn't stop until we were done around 3:00pm. ~8cm total accumulation. We toured up to 2,000m. Snow was great to 1,500m and then it was new snow on a hard crust. A member of our group triggered a size 1 avalanche on a convex role in open trees. 30-35cm crown, 8-10m wide with a 50m run off. No one was buried and the skier was able to ski out of it. Overall, great day but the new snow was becoming reactive.

Begbie lakes

Published: Feb 13th, 2026

Small soft slabs sluffing in the slack country

Published: Feb 12th, 2026

Test pit ~2100m, N asp, HS 280, 20 deg slope. CTM dwn 30 Feb 7th CTH dwn 60 Jan 26th failed below the crust

Small soft slab slabs sluffing on surface hoar in the slack country

Published: Feb 12th, 2026

A couple of small natural and skier controlled avalanches. All aspects up to size 1.5, touchy but only about 15cm deep.

London Ridge

Published: Feb 9th, 2026

Dug a pit at treeline on a similar NE slope that we were skiing. CTH28 down 20cm, RP. Snow hardness was F down 20cm, 4F down to 40cm, an 8cm thick faceted layer, followed by consolidated 1F snow to the bottom of our pit, about 120cm down.

Montana Bowl

Published: Feb 9th, 2026

Route: Skied mellow <30’ lines in Montana, mostly in treeline, to base of Roscoes. Return to RMR via Catchers Mitt. Snowpack: no immediate signs of instability, whumfs or cracking on the routes we took. One previously released slab avalanche observed to climbers right of Roscoes, approx 1.5-2. Some surface hoar (~6mm or so) observed above alpine in traverse from boundary to Montana. Skiing conditions: Southern aspects skied well in pockets above treeline, but predominately poor and crusty. Non solar affected aspects skied much better. Catchers Mitt in good condition. Weather: Largely overcast, patches of sunlight but no consistent clear spells. Low to moderate winds throughout.

Kokanee Ridge

Published: Feb 9th, 2026

Skied a few laps off of Kokanee Ridge. Almost Heli skied well. South aspects were another story. Tested the steeper slope skiers left of Roscoe and triggered a Sz 1.5 slab with a skicut. Crown was about 20-30 cm.

Montana bowl

Published: Feb 8th, 2026

Main face of Mackenzie icy high , filled in low w soft dry powder snow.South aspect goat peak bit icy , avoided Montana major slide paths , up to lower col of Kokanee snow stable ... Climbing ridge of kokannee above Montana was inspecting cornice above Montana bowl 15:m from edge. Suddenly drop and giant whoomph shooting Crack immediately north to the edge all cornice fell 15-20m length followed by loud rumble when we gained the summit at almost heli we observed end fan of large slide in Montana bowl we estimated 2.5 in size .. Skiied steep and steep line into the Montana bowland inspected the fan of the avalanche, which cleaned out everything above the cliff and fully engulfed the ski track in the bottom of the valley. The run was so wonderful, we immediately headed back up.\nTwo of us then skied , again from almost heli (kokanee n.e.shoulder into Montana bowl) As I skied into the unsupported convex role, a large chunk\nSplit across about ten meters and ran down to the first bench below. Was expecting it to possibly slide and was skiing fine to the escape zone. Just about everything this afternoon.\n That was wind loaded on a steep unsupported aspect was sliding with between 10 and 40 cm\nOf a crown. Neither of these avalanche stepped down below the January crust The January drought layer seems strong but everything that's building on top doesn't seem like it wants to bond anywhere . Just expecting all unsupported steeps are ready to slide

Spring Conditions

Spring Conditions

Spring Conditions

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Published: Apr 27th, 2026

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Published: Mar 31st, 2026

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Published: Mar 30th, 2026

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Published: Mar 29th, 2026

Avalanche Forecast

Published: Mar 28th, 2026

Clanwilliam

BC Ministry of Transportation & Infrastructure

Coffee Creek

BC Ministry of Transportation & Infrastructure

Dardanelle

BC Ministry of Transportation & Infrastructure

Fish Lake

BC Ministry of Transportation & Infrastructure

Galena Pass

BC Ministry of Transportation & Infrastructure

Lardeau

BC Ministry of Transportation & Infrastructure

Lardeau High

BC Ministry of Transportation & Infrastructure

London Ridge Low

BC Ministry of Transportation & Infrastructure

Victor Main

BC Ministry of Transportation & Infrastructure