South Rockies
Proctor Storm Snow
Nice day out behind Proctor, very calm, snow globe flurries. Above the sea of debris, ski quality was good, with a nice 30-40cm of powder on top of various surfaces. Couple slabby spots, but kept it low angle.
Travel through the debris was much better than expected.
espeters10,
Saturday 15th March, 2025 3:00PM
Avalanche Forecast
Published: Mar 14th, 2025Boulders, and puddles, and mud... oh my!
Today it felt as though spring truly had sprung. We attempted to go to Powder Cowboy to assess the post-storm conditions but got re-routed due to lack of snow on the road. We didn't want to risk sledding into the area on a trio of mud, boulders, and puddles; after much deliberation (and a few crazy and probably not-so-smart schemes) we decided to call it a loss and head home.
Look at us.... adapting our plan to suit conditions heh??!
The temperature at the "staging area" was +2 at 10:30 am.
If you have been around this area, we'd love to hear where the new staging area is. And of course, post a MIN! We love to hear about your adventures :)
southrockies,
Friday 14th March, 2025 8:00PM
Avalanche Forecast
Published: Mar 13th, 2025Windy, Warmy, NewSnowy
Well, i guess its not news to say it was windy in the Pass today, but add the 5cm that fell overnight Wednesday=>Thursday and mention that it was Moderate to Strong wind, and thats a recipe for lots of wind-loading in the Alpine and Treeline …
We couldn’t see much (refer back to comments about windy snow storm), but the few glimpses we had into steeper terrain revealed numerous Natural Size 1 Loose Dry avalanches and a few shallow Sz 1 storm slab releases.
The day was overcast and warm, with zero degrees at midday at 1850 m, the snowpack depth (HS) there was 120 cm.
The snowpack continues to keep us on our toes, with 70 cm of consolidating soft snow over the “January drought” facet crystals, which are still not strengthening … (aka foot-penetration to ground!).
southrockies,
Thursday 13th March, 2025 8:00PM
Avalanche Forecast
Published: Mar 12th, 2025"Persistent" Problem and Facet Farming
We spent the day up Nordstrom Creek and even though this area didn't get the deep snowfall that the Lizard Range got, it was still a great day to be out.
The snowpack is shallow in this area, with an average depth of 120 cm. We saw no new avalanches in our travels, but did have an attention-grabbing failure on the January Drought layer (ECTP17 down 50 on FC 2-4) when we dug into the snow. We dug a pit in a sheltered north-facing area and found the January drought layer down 50 cm. The base of the snowpack (well....everything below the Jan Drought) is poor. It is composed of large, loose unconsolidated facets. There is, however, a thick crust near the surface on all solar aspects that bridges this Jan Drought layer.
The day was mild with -2 being our lowest temperature. The wind was calm and the skies were overcast.
southrockies,
Wednesday 12th March, 2025 8:00PM
Avalanche Forecast
Published: Mar 11th, 2025The Pure Joy of Mountain Travel
Variable riding conditions up in McLatchie today with solar crusts, surface wind affect, and a few old tracks (only slightly) dulling the pure joy of mountain travel.
We saw no new avalanches, and with only light West wind, saw no wind transport. The overcast sky kept things cool with a high of -2 at Treeline.
The snowpack was relatively shallow at 140 - 160 cm at 1900 m, with just a few cm of new snow over a strong 7 cm melt-freeze crust to ridgetop on solar aspects and below 1700 m elsewhere. We had no results in snowpack tests on the “January drought” Persistant Weak Layer, which we found 50 cm down.
southrockies,
Tuesday 11th March, 2025 8:00PM
Avalanche Forecast
Published: Mar 10th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Published: Mar 9th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Published: Mar 8th, 2025Still some dry snow
Fun skiing today. We saw avalanche debris and crowns where we expected on steep south aspects and in the big runout on the east face of Tecumseh. Fun skiing in the trees above 1900m dry snow and less wind effects than expected. The south aspect was sticky and wet with an almost supportive suncrust under 5cm of wet snow.
JIMM5,
Saturday 8th March, 2025 5:00PM
Fernie North Bowl
Great windy day out in the north bowls of Mt Fernie. We found a couple nice turns among crusts and wind effect. The good skiing included dust on crust in the trees and down low, with some nice boot top dry powder on high north aspects. No whumpfing, cracking or any other signs of instability.
We dug at 2100m, NW slope, HS 260. CTX, ECTP23 down 70 on Feb storm interface.
espeters10,
Saturday 8th March, 2025 3:00PM
Avalanche Forecast
Published: Mar 7th, 2025clear skies and cornices
With full sun and rising freezing levels to 2000 m we were expecting south-facing slopes to be soft and sticky but were pleasantly surprised to find roughly 10 cm of dry soft snow. Moderate to strong southwest wind was keeping the surfaces cool and driving soft snow into the atmosphere rather than building wind slabs.
There was some isolated wind affected snow at the ridge that was stiff and hollow sounding mixed with sustrugi. But no shooting cracks and very isolated distribution.
Cornices are large and overhanging in this area, something to keep an eye on.
The facets formed during the January drought remain a concern on north-facing slopes where there is no supportive melt-freeze crust. This layer is becoming more stubborn, there were no new avalanches in the area, and we had no results in our snowpack tests.
southrockies,
Friday 7th March, 2025 11:00PM
Dylan Boot
Hiking up I saw a wet loose avalanche debris.
The size looked to be about a 1.5 that went down into the gulley.
The snow was wind affected and was affected by the sun.
I assume the this happened within 48 hours.
booterboy17,
Friday 7th March, 2025 9:47AM
Avalanche Forecast
Published: Mar 6th, 2025Machine Accidental
Observations from SAR members attending incident site after subject evacuation. Crown depth was 40-60cm deep and likely failed on the January 30th interface. Very touchy conditions persist in this drainage. One full burial, excavated by other member in party.
brodiesmith.consulting,
Thursday 6th March, 2025 9:15PM
Little Sand access getting dicey
The main thing to report here is the access road is getting very dicey. Very little to no snow as you head up past the garage for quite a while. Hard going on the sled - bashing rocks and my temp light came on before I could find some snow to cool it off. In hindsight, I could have made better efforts to find snow in the bush had I known it was so far till snow.
Skiing on non-solar aspects was quite excellent. Powder on a supportive base. Significant sluffing of the non consolidated storm snow on steep slopes was the only sign of instability.
jimn,
Thursday 6th March, 2025 9:00PM
Skier remote avalanches sz 1 + sz 1.5 and sympathetic sz 2.5
Observations from SAR members attending separate incident lower down in the drainage. See avalanche details.
Also of note, one lone ski tourer in area today that was tip towing around the region solo.
Increased caution is recommended in this region due to reactivity of a persistent weak layer in varying aspects and elevations.
brodiesmith.consulting,
Thursday 6th March, 2025 9:00PM
Persisting In Crown
Another Spring-Adjacent day without too much change (ie awesome again!). High temp of -2 up on our ridge, calm to light breeze, some sun heat, but not baking.
We sledded up Crown Mountain and investigated the snowpack on a gladed North aspect near ridgetop at 2150 m.
The full snowpack depth (HS) was 170 cm, with 70 cm of February and March’s consolidating snow on top of the ‘January drought’ layer, which in this location is 30 cm or so of weak unconsolidated facet crystals.
We had a test failure on this layer (ECTP 30, down 70 on SH/FC), which confirmed our caution of high dry north aspects, particularly where the layer is less than a metre deep, and where (being north) there is no thick stabilising sun-crust.
Access is lil’ muddy and lil’ icy, but manageable as far as the big slide path off the North end of Erickson Ridge … it has run and now blocks the forest road (impressively! :-).
southrockies,
Thursday 6th March, 2025 9:00PM
Dust on Debris
Poke up fairy creek, hoping for some dust on crust or powder but found dust on debris. Lots and lots of debris up to size 3. Higher looked better but sun was shining hot and travel slow on the debris.
espeters10,
Thursday 6th March, 2025 3:30PM
Cameron Lake Touring
Three days riding various aspects around Cameron and Wall Lakes. Widespread temperature crust present on all aspects overlayed with 5-20cm of dry snow made for enjoyable supportive riding that sometimes necessitated ski cramponing. Plentiful evidence of the widespread avy cycle with numerous large slides noted including several size threes on N, E, and S aspects. No new instability noted.
stevencameronnoel,
Thursday 6th March, 2025 7:00AM
Avalanche Forecast
Published: Mar 5th, 2025PowPow @ PowCow
Good trip up Little Sand Creek today, despite the icy-melty-puddley-muddy approach from the staging area on the Bull FSR.
The day was calm with a high temp (up in the terrain) of -2, overcast all morning, sunny in the afternoon.
Once up to treeline, we found 20 cm of light dry overnight snow added to the 5 cm from yesterday. The new snow has a reasonable bond to the old surfaces (which include a 5cm sun-crust on solar aspects), although we did see some Dry Loose avalanches out of high, steep, rocky terrain on the back of the Lizard Range.
Digging on a North West aspect at 1950 m, we found the ‘January drought’ interface of buried surface hoar and facet crystals 100 cm down in a deep snowpack area, and did some snowpack tests. No results in Compression or Extended Column tests, but we had a hard, resistant result on the January layer in a Deep Tap Test.
With our observations and tests, were happy to ski moderate angle terrain in the deep snowpack area where we were, but decided to stay away from thinner, shallower, or rocky areas where we might have triggered a thin-to-thick release on the Persistant Weak Layer we’ve seen discussed in the avalanche forecast.
(take a look at ‘Thin Spot’ and ‘Shallow Rocky Start Zone’ at avalanche.ca/glossary).
southrockies,
Wednesday 5th March, 2025 9:00PM
Avalanche Forecast
Published: Mar 4th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Published: Mar 4th, 2025Dry High North
Today in Corbin in the Barnes Lake area the effects of the warm temperatures and clear skies from the weekend were obvious. A fairly widespread avalanche cycle with more activity on south aspects was observed. Numerous large (size 2 to 3) slab and loose wet avalanches have released down to the persistent weak layer.
Overnight cool temperatures and a cloudy sky today have contributed to the development of a melt-freeze crust on all aspects below 1700 m and a solar crust above this on everything but north aspects.
There was roughly 5 cm of new low density snow on the surface that has buried the surface crust with a layer of stellars (snowflakes).
We were still suspicious of north facing terrain due to the widespread persistent weak layer but had no results on our snowpack tests. Still some decent skiing and riding on North aspects where the snow remains soft.
southrockies,
Tuesday 4th March, 2025 9:00PM
Hang Ten
We rode Hang Ten Tuesday morning after McDermott got 7cm fresh fluffy snow! Particles were dendrite 2-3mm. Nice snow quality as it’s on a shaded aspect. Pretty crusty on the skin up in sunny areas and under trees. We rode this line every day from March 1-4. Prior to the snowfall Snow was wind affected but still soft for good skiing - no crust on this aspect.
nicole.blanchard8,
Tuesday 4th March, 2025 3:00PM
Avalanche Forecast
Published: Mar 3rd, 2025Dry Lizard
We found good skiing on North aspects 1700-2100m. Varying thicknesses of MFcr elsewhere. Mild temperatures throughout day snowing S-1 accumulation was around 3cm by the end of the day.
sambaker21,
Monday 3rd March, 2025 9:00PM
Avalanche Forecast
Published: Mar 2nd, 2025Tunnel Creek Feb 28-Mar 2
Up at the hut for a couple nights. Snow conditions highly variable depending on aspect, elevation and temperature. Dug a pit on a NE aspect at approx 1800m and found the PWL about 85cm deep CT14. Multiple fractures and debris observed from previous cycle but surprisingly little sign of new avalanches observed other than on south aspects. Even with the lack of avalanche activity our confidence was low due to rapidly changing temperatures so kept it pretty mellow. Beautiful weekend in the mountains!
ben.gollat,
Sunday 2nd March, 2025 10:00PM
The Spring of Deception has hit hard
We took the simplest way up and down the Mammoth Head, keen to enjoy the sun, clear skies and a good view.
We saw evidence of many natural size 1 wet loose avalanches and two large avalanches, size 3, presumably where wet loose had stepped down to the persistent layer. One we saw running in a W/SW aspect on the back of the Elephant head scored to ground close by, one in the distance on a more E/SE aspect (see photos)
Tree bombs were the hazard of the day, lots of tree damage from yesterday afternoon, we had our heads on a swivel while skinning and made sure to get home early.
Even more fun, we saw the beginnings of some cheeky hoars forming in shady spots… we’re thinking adding this in with the mixture of crusts should make the next storm one to watch.
Ben Ingle,
Sunday 2nd March, 2025 7:00PM
Middle Kootenay Pass
roosterwoodcraft,
Sunday 2nd March, 2025 5:00PM
Avalanche Forecast
Published: Mar 1st, 2025McDermott
We did a snow profile test on NE aspect then rode Hang ten. It was sunny with lots of warming. Snow bombs from trees and lots of precip melting off of trees in the sun. In the sun snow is cream cheese, in the shade on hang ten was slight wind affected but still good riding. No instability observed on the ride down.
nicole.blanchard8,
Saturday 1st March, 2025 5:00PM
Avalanche Forecast
Published: Feb 28th, 2025A day of Hot Fish Soup
Avalanche summary: Observed two or three avalanches one up to a 2.5 natural center Fishbowl, hard to tell last 24-48hr old. No other signs of instability.
Structure: 20cm of snow above 26th Feb melt freeze crust. Snowpack depth at 1270m 110cm, Surface was moist at least down 10cm
Weather: Clear warm, high of 5c, @ 1300M @ midday. HOT!
cheyenne.widmer,
Friday 28th February, 2025 11:00PM
Sunny South York
Today in the York Creek area of the Crowsnest Pass we found an extremely wind affected surface of hard wind pressed snow mixed with sustrugi. The new wind slabs formed from Thursday's strong SW winds are bonding to previous surfaces.
On solar slopes the hard slab was becoming moist, but the light to moderate SW wind was slowing the warming. The top 10 to 15 cm were becoming moist on slopes impacted by the sun, and more pronounced below 1500 m.
We did not observe any new avalanche activity, but we did get a reactive test in our snow profile down 70 cm where the consolidated upper snowpack is not bonding to the facets formed during the cold temperatures of late January. This continues to indicate potential for propagation (slab avalanches).
southrockies,
Friday 28th February, 2025 8:00PM
Avalanche Forecast
Published: Feb 27th, 2025Spicy in Corbin!
Today in the Corbin area we were surprised to find 10 to 15 cm of untouched powder in the rain gauge zone that we suspect accumulated on Tuesday.
Strong southwest wind was redistributing this new snow at Alpine and Treeline elevations, increasing the load on the persistent weak layer of facets formed in late January.
Along with a widespread older avalanche cycle from Sunday, there were several new size 2 to 2.5 avalanches that likely occurred in the last 12 to 24 hours and released down to the persistent weak layer.
Our snowpack tests were also concerning, with between 60 to 95 cm of consolidated snow over the persistent weak layer, we were consistently getting results (ECTPV X2 and ECTP19) that indicate there is potential for propagation (slab avalanches).
Human-triggered avalanches are likely to release large avalanches.
southrockies,
Thursday 27th February, 2025 8:00PM
Avalanche Forecast
Published: Feb 26th, 2025Sunny Days, Shifty Slopes.
Today in Elkford there is a a generally shallow snowpack where we dug at 2000 m there was 95 cm of snow in a sheltered treeline location. The accumulated snow since Feb 1 is roughly 30 to 40 cm, which sits on a very loose faceted mid and lower snowpack. There were several large avalanches that likely occurred during the last storm (possibly Sunday) many of these avalanches involved most of the snowpack and scrubbed the track and runouts to the ground. This avalanche activity was expected but there is a lot of terrain features that remain suspicious that did not run during the storm. Our snowpack tests indicated that the snowpack structure is weak. The consolidated layer of snow accumulated over the large facet layer was reactive and made us wonder why there wasn’t more avalanche activity. We suspect that this higher elevation area stayed Cooler during the storm and in many areas still may not have the load necessary for a full clean out.
southrockies,
Wednesday 26th February, 2025 8:00PM
Avalanche Forecast
Published: Feb 25th, 2025Erris/Funnel
Rode out to have a look at Erris/Funnel. Cruising around in assessment/explore mode.
Mostly still below threshold in this area, didn’t find any HS over a metre. No new avalanches observed today. Lots of evidence of wind stripping in the TL and Alpine.
Waist deep to ground walking around. Breakable refrozen crust from 5-15cm deep in TL and BTL with unconsolidated facets below. Made for challenging sledding, deep trenches to dirt. We didn’t dare break out the skis…
samirsomji,
Tuesday 25th February, 2025 7:00PM
Avalanche Forecast
Published: Feb 24th, 2025Whumpfy all over
Strolled out to Pedley pass for some mellow tree skiing post storm. 10-20cm fell with the amount increasing with elevation. Sampled the SW slopes behind the main bowl. 30cm of heavy 4F wind effected snow sat on the surface with F facets and various old wind effected below. A MFcr was noted only on direct S at TL and below 2000m on all aspects. Surprising lack of natural activity with only 1 slab in steep S below extreme terrain. However whumpfing occurred whenever you left the main skin track at TL and on S slopes with entire slopes settling at once. No slumping or movement however we stayed on slopes <30 degrees. Skied steep N in dense trees and only had one settlement in a small wind loaded pocket. Main bowl was reloaded with significant wind loading at ridge line. Scouring noted in the alpine.
Istrong,
Monday 24th February, 2025 5:00PM
Avalanche Forecast
Published: Feb 23rd, 2025AST 2 Pit - ST & PS column and EXT column test - WITH RESULTS!!!!
jena.greaser,
Sunday 23rd February, 2025 8:00PM
Sib Ridge Bowl Pit & Natural Avalanche Activity Observed
jena.greaser,
Sunday 23rd February, 2025 8:00PM
Tunnel Creek Feb 21-23
Spent 3 days at Tunnel Creek Hut touring around. Went into Mcdermid and Trespass as well.
February 21st - cloudy and windy with temps trending warmer. Snow had set up firm and dense with wind effect prevalent in exposed areas. No signs of natural activity although limited vis, other than some old sluff. Stuck in the glades off the beaten path and found some softish snow. Suspicions of the persistent weak layer lurking kept us reserved. No whumpfing noted.
Feb 22 - similar weather to previous day out. Didn’t notice any new avalanche activity. Storm was intensifying throughout the day with some strong winds picking up later in the day. Surface Snow stability was deteriorating as the day went out with some sizeable cracking under ski and shooting outwards. No whumpfing noted.
Feb 23 - heavy (both amount and consistency) snow overnight with some winds. Foggy/ cloudy and warm again. Much needed full reset in the area. Elevated danger kept us in low angle trees and away from any steep open slopes or convexities. Highly unstable storm slab with immediate feedback on any expected terrain features. No whumpfing noted but fractures were dramatically larger than previous days. Some new avy debris noted from Leroy’s run out but nothing observed other than that (limited vis). Snow line was noted at 1550m or so, rain soaked snow below.
samuelhiggins1990,
Sunday 23rd February, 2025 6:00PM
Avalanche on trails
Heavy wet snow very wind drifted decent size slide on the trail going up
markusvandenhoek04,
Sunday 23rd February, 2025 6:00PM
Vancouver Island came to Alberta
Rain at the parking lot and 25cm by Sunday morning. Snow was very heavy and the snow line was around 1600m. Windy on exposed higher ridges. We stayed on terrain under 30 degrees and in dense trees. A lot of settlements, whumpfing, and cracking on all aspects but especially on the NE side. About 25cm of storm snow on top of a fragile crust and facets.
JIMM5,
Sunday 23rd February, 2025 2:00PM
Avalanche Forecast
Published: Feb 22nd, 2025Slab avalanche, skier triggered
k.woicesh,
Saturday 22nd February, 2025 9:00PM
Coal Creek, Awesome day!
Great day to ride! We rode at the tree line, stayed out of the Alpine. No cracks, no drumming or whumping. South facing slopes were wind blown with a hard crust on top. We found the best spots to be facing N N.E. the trail was not tracked out like we thought it might be (credits to the groomer!) and in the right spots there was lots of powder! Although heavy and wet from the warm temperatures, it was still plenty to carve in and out of the trees.
We did see one area of danger/concern. At the Rolling Hills Cabin sign, head North (turn left at the Y) and ride up till you get to the power line. Sitting in the cut block, you can see a massive overhang at the bottom of one of the towers on top of a ridge with a treeless gully underneath. Unfortunately I did not grab a picture of that spot as we turned around and headed back.
amberdavidson26,
Saturday 22nd February, 2025 5:00PM
Avalanche Forecast
Published: Feb 21st, 2025Name Dropping
We went for a short ride past Window Mountain and into Racehorse Pass today. The southwest winds had really picked up, but there was also plenty of evidence that previous northerly winds had stripped many alpine slopes in the area. The snow was generally hard windslab over soft facets that made for less than ideal sledding in any open areas. We saw some older debris and signs of small, natural windslabs. These were difficult to age, but we guess they ran in the last couple of days. We dug our profile in a deep, wind loaded pocket at treeline and had no results in our extended column test under the hard mass of old windslabs. This may not be the case in more shallow, faceted areas where the persistent problem might be lingering.
southrockies,
Friday 21st February, 2025 9:00PM
Crusty Sunny Side
We rode one lap of Sunnyside trees. There is a solid couple inch sun crust covering a lot of the slope mixed with a couple good turns every once in a while. Skiing was fun lower just before the hut and just below the hut where it was heavy powder but no crust. We decided to only do one lap and not head up again as the conditions with the crust were tough. We saw no signs on instability, it was quite windy and the snow is warming. Still a great walk in the mountains.
kayla.lissel,
Friday 21st February, 2025 7:00PM
Short tour from the resort.
Our group did a short tour from Lost Boys to Mammoth shoulder today. It was overcast with moderate wind from the SW and some light snowfall. We found the persistent weak layer in the upper snowpack (see photo) and had some small pillows crack and fail on this layer. There was an old slab avalanche (that we observed from afar) on the back of Elephant head in steep, alpine terrain, S aspect. It looked like a size 1.5 or 2.0 and likely occurred a few days ago. There was also some sun crust on a SW aspect that we skied.
info,
Friday 21st February, 2025 6:00PM
Ridge 2000
Skied two laps on the NE aspect of Ridge 2000 through open trees. Observed evidence of wind slabs, but no shooting cracks or whumpfing. Winds picked up significantly during our second lap, rapidly redepositing snow.
lydialena14,
Friday 21st February, 2025 4:00PM
Avalanche Forecast
Published: Feb 20th, 2025Tree Laps at Limestone Ridge
Today we had our heads in the clouds while we hung out at treeline on Limestone Ridge. The low ceiling and warm temperatures seem to be signalling a change from the status quo in the area. The 15 cm of snow from last weekend is starting to form into a stiffer slab that has not bonded to the old snow below it yet. Lower down (~40 cm) there is a soft layer of large facets that was left behind by the January drought. This layer is our main concern for the persistent problem listed in the forecast so we were keeping a close eye on it! Both interfaces had sudden, moderate test results in our profile at 2075 m on a northwest facing slope. Fog limited visibility so we kept the persistent problem top of mind while playing well away from any hidden overhead hazard. We didn't see any new avalanches, but we didn't see much of anything really... We spent the day enjoying good turns and tight climbs through the open trees. There is starting to be a fair amount of tracks in the area, but technical trees and hidden openings are holding some great snow.
southrockies,
Thursday 20th February, 2025 9:00PM
Partway to Mammoth Head
Great facet powder skiing to be found all around! Some wind crusty/ slabby snow in a SW facing wind affected slope and sighs of recent avalanche activity on a steep, W facing slope.
ECTX at our turn around point a little before Mammoth Head on a W facing slope but we still generally avoided avalanche terrain as it was our first time exploring the Fernie backcountry
conor.lickliter,
Thursday 20th February, 2025 7:00PM
Avalanche Forecast
Published: Feb 19th, 2025Sugar Sledding around Sparwood
Today we rode just north of Sparwood. The day started fairly cool (around -15°C) and cloudy warming up to as the day went on, but not enough to make the surface moist. We hung out sledding in small openings and open forest below treeline as high as 2150 m. The snowpack (120-140 cm) had turned to loose sugary snow which rode like deep powder but had us watching out for buried obstacles. 30 cm of newer snow sits over the pronounced layer of surface hoar and facets left by January’s drought. We are consistently getting results on this layer in profiles and saw one long running avalanche we suspect failed on this layer. There were also several dry loose avalanches that ran far entraining plenty new snow and facets.
southrockies,
Thursday 20th February, 2025 12:00AM
Mongolia laps
Some sun affected slopes with a 4cm crust layer on top. Still good powder in non sun affected areas.
joa19elliott,
Wednesday 19th February, 2025 8:00PM
Avalanche Forecast
Published: Feb 18th, 2025Mammoth Head Meander
Toured Mammoth Head following a ridge line feature down the NW face,
Riding was awesome and the snow felt great,
Saw no signs of instability and no recent avalanches.
The sun was beating down quite hard and in the few hours we were there, we started to notice its effect on the surface of the snow, especially in open places.
josh_bodhi,
Tuesday 18th February, 2025 9:00PM
Bull River Ice
The Bull River Ice is in! Get on it before it melts out!
Good ice quality and a variety of routes from WI2-5. Main flow gets sun around 2pm.
MattSzczepanski,
Tuesday 18th February, 2025 9:00PM
Bluebird Coal Pow Turns
Bluebird day up Coal Creek today … -10, with a light SE breeze keeping the surface cool, views for ever, and light dry powder (mostly) unaffected by wind.
We sledded around the open plateau at around 1900 m between Marten Creek and Coal Creek, where we saw no new avalanches, had no signs of instability in our travels,
but ……
did have an Extended Column Test propogation in a profile in a on a N aspect at 1900 m (see pic). ECTP 23 down 55 on surface hoar size 8-12 mm. (our ‘January drought’ layer).
southrockies,
Tuesday 18th February, 2025 9:00PM
Barnes lake round 2
Came back for more cuz the snow was too good! Rode another N facing treeline feature with heavy sluffing but no concerns otherwise.
Decided to step out into the alpine targeting a SE facing lower angle supported bowl feature, and ascended a low angle rib. As we approached the ridge line at 2250m we felt a significant whumph with all 3 of us standing on a loaded pillow. We used good travel tactics and identified start zones before continuing. The next kick turn held another significant whumph and triggered a size 1.5 persistent slab (see avalanche summary) that wrapped around to where our first skier was standing on a supported feature. No involvements.
We decided to back off and return to treeline features for the rest of the day.
Lots of natural dry loose activity in the past 48hrs
Solar input was strong and created a 1cm crust on S facing treeline aspects.
samirsomji,
Tuesday 18th February, 2025 8:10PM
Avalanche Forecast
Published: Feb 17th, 2025Mongolia Bowl
Skied Mongolia Bowl, observed shooting cracks on a steep NW aspect.
lydialena14,
Monday 17th February, 2025 5:00PM
Sledder remote
kirknjenny,
Monday 17th February, 2025 5:00PM