South Island
Avalanche Forecast
Published: Apr 28th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Loose Wet, Wind Slabs.
Published: Apr 25th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Loose Wet.
Published: Apr 24th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Loose Wet.
Published: Apr 23rd, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Loose Wet.
Published: Apr 23rd, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Loose Wet.
Published: Apr 22nd, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Published: Apr 21st, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Published: Apr 20th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Published: Apr 19th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Published: Apr 18th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Published: Apr 17th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Published: Apr 16th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Published: Apr 15th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Published: Apr 14th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Cornices, Wind Slabs.
Published: Apr 13th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs.
Published: Apr 12th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs.
Published: Apr 11th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs.
Published: Apr 10th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs.
Published: Apr 9th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Apr 8th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Apr 7th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs.
Published: Apr 6th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Apr 5th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Published: Apr 4th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Published: Apr 3rd, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Published: Apr 2nd, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Published: Apr 1st, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 31st, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Mar 30th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Mar 29th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Mar 28th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Mar 27th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Mar 27th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 26th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Loose Wet, Wet Slabs.
Published: Mar 25th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Mar 24th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Mar 23rd, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Mar 22nd, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs.
Published: Mar 21st, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs.
Published: Mar 20th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs.
Published: Mar 19th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs.
Published: Mar 19th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs.
Published: Mar 18th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Loose Wet, Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 17th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs.
Published: Mar 16th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs.
Published: Mar 15th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs.
Published: Mar 14th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 13th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Mar 12th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs.
Published: Mar 11th, 2025Stoked on Coke
<p>Sunny skies and temps around 20 kept us out of the bowls and primarily in conservative terrain.
Minor wet sluffs and pinwheels observed. Many snowmobilers were brapping on Cokely including high lining just below the summit on steeper terrain. Of the 100+ laps they did, no slides were triggered.
Slides observed on the Arrowsmith bumps. </p>
sportnewk,
Saturday 29th April, 2023 3:50PM
Clinging to Cokely
<p>Thought we'd see whether the onset of the storm at Arrowsmith might be able to blow us off the mountain and we were not disappointed! It was an intensely blustery day up there, accompanied by roughly 1 cm per hour snowfall from 11 AM onwards. Where it wasn't being blown to smithereens, the new snow was burying an unfortunate new rain crust from yesterday that was up to 3 cm thick in some areas, protecting some of our most recent dry snow from wind transport. The crust was mysteriously absent around a few micro-features where we can only assume the rain was blowing sideways enough to miss! Now bring on the snow!</p>
AvCan Vancouver Island,
Thursday 20th April, 2023 3:20PM
The Wind was Mean on Green
<p>Green had a bit of everything today. Rain below 900m, wet snow up to 1250m and light snow above. Winds were intense in open areas and near the summit (50km/h+). Approx 20cm fell by mid afternoon above 1100m.
No natural avalanches seen. Skier triggered small wet slide in the afternoon on 35degree West facing meadow slope. 10m wide ran 25m.
Mosaic also added a bunch of annoying cross ditches along the whole branch road…</p>
sportnewk,
Sunday 16th April, 2023 6:20PM
OH BRUGGER!
<p>We attempted to ski the Bruggers gully on Sunday April 2. We found plenty of fresh snow in the alpine that seemed to be settling pretty well. On north aspects there are lots of layers! In compression tests we found 2 separate interfaces on the new snow down 10 and 20 cm (approx) that failed on moderate taps. More concerning was a third layer down approx 50 cm that failed on hard taps. The crusts are slow to heal on the shaded north faces! We had ECTN on both surface layers with hard taps and could not get the lower layer to pop at all. Based on the ECT results we decided to climb on. Boot packing was incredibly punishing in the deep snow and we wallowed upwards, as we neared the choke the couloir started to sluff frequently and we opted to turn around. We also noted some snow falling as graupel. The snow was stellar but good sluff management was required. There is still cold fluffy snow out there! Go get it!</p>
bengodwin123,
Monday 3rd April, 2023 12:10PM
Sometimes you make the peak, sometimes you get stuck in the creek
<p>In true Canadian tradition, after this wintery week, we felt it was time to head south and check out the Cowichan lake area. With hearts full of ambition and sights set high, we planned for a trip up Mount Landale. With seamless travel up the Chemainus main, we found patchy snow starting at 32 km, and parked at the turn off for the Franklin main. We eyed up the route to Whymper on our way by, this was our second choice for the day. From there we jumped on our sleds and headed up. The wind was howling and we could see snow blowing off the summit ahead of us, but it was 9 degrees at the truck at 500 m. Progress was good until the road started climbing, then the combination of washouts and thick alder slashed our hopes of making the peak today. Although our dreams didn't become reality today, we have not given up on visiting this enticing area, we will be back Cowichan! </p>
AvCan Vancouver Island,
Tuesday 28th March, 2023 2:50PM
Spring has brokely at Cokely
<p>Spring solstice inspired us to head south in search of dream (on) turns at the old Mt Arrowsmith Ski Area on Mt Cokely. The Pass Main logging road quickly turned from dirt to snow at around 700 m. We had no problem snowmobiling up the t-bar run to the top of the old ski hill. Skinning up the ridge to the peak of Mt Cokely was a bit of a choose your own adventure with the ski pen being 0 cm! With one of us boot-packing and the other skinning it was fairly quick travel to the top. Recent new snow has bonded very well to the surface with the help of warm temperatures. The top 5 cm of the snowpack is a melt freeze layer, but to our delight was not penetrable on skis for our descent! We noted significant pinwheeling on solar aspects, up to the size of an exercise ball, but no new avalanches observed. All in all, a fun day in the mountains. </p>
AvCan Vancouver Island,
Tuesday 21st March, 2023 4:00PM
Hot near Arrowsmith
<p>The snow line on pass main stopped us at 600m. We had been hoping to drive to 800m based on some info earlier in the week. The extra time skinning up the logging road made us too late for our objectives. We went up the saddle trail and as we poked out the trees saw extensive pinwheeling on sun exposed and shaded slopes so had our lunch and turned around to do some full contact skiing back down through the trees.
We'll be back for the objectives another time. </p>
mikek732,
Saturday 18th March, 2023 11:10PM
Make No Mistake, The Skiing Ain’t Fake Above Cowichan Lake
<p>Approx 5cm fell during the day and temps remained below zero. 2m+ snow depth above 1100m. Notable sun crust present on solar aspects under the recent snow. Alpine slopes wind affected and not great to ski. Protected trees slopes and north facing terrain skied great down to 1050m elevation on fluffy snow.</p>
sportnewk,
Saturday 11th March, 2023 7:00PM
quick trip up Cokely
<p>Foggy trip up to Cokely ridge via rousseau. Some wind effect, but snowpack was well consolidated. Exposed slopes had mix of light wind loading and scoured surfaces, but there were some surprisingly decent turns to be found. Best snow was at the treeline in north aspects. Wind was howling, warm mist was accumulating as ice on surfaces; will likely crust up over night with cooling temps.</p>
amelie-duquette,
Sunday 19th February, 2023 6:20PM
Winds cookin' on Cokely
<p>Headed down South Island and checked out Mt Cokely today on the hunt for wind slabs. We made it to 7 km on Pass main before jumping on the sleds and getting to 1450 m. Snow surface was variable with a mix of crust, some dust and wind slabs. Sustained moderate to strong winds has moved most of our new snow and formed 5-15 cm wind slabs all the way down into treeline. As we walked around the summit approach at 1500 m, it took some force to produce sluggish cracks that did not propagate much past the ski tips. Any snow that we could get to move was failing on soft snow a few cm's above the crust. As we headed back down we were stoked to see skies darken and snow starting to fall.</p>
AvCan Vancouver Island,
Thursday 2nd February, 2023 3:10PM
Okely dokely Mount Cokely
<p>We headed up Mount Cokely today to try to get a look at the alpine, however the weather had a different idea in mind. Below treeline is nearly clear of snow, with a few patches of ice on the road up to be careful of. We could drive to 1000m and then jumped on the sleds. The wind was howling around us and moving a lot of snow, and the extent of the wind effect was obvious as we got tossed by wind lips in the fog all along the ridgeline. There were a combination of soft and hard windslabs that varied from 5 to 40cm deep with very minimal reactivity. Underneath these, our coastal crust is thick and strong. A brief glimpse of the alpine show us exposed rocks and a thick rime coat on everything. </p>
AvCan Vancouver Island,
Wednesday 4th January, 2023 4:30PM