St. Mary
Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 28th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Storm Slabs, Cornices.
Published: Mar 27th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Storm Slabs, Cornices.
Published: Mar 26th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Loose Wet, Cornices.
Published: Mar 25th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Loose Wet, Storm Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 24th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 23rd, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 22nd, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Persistent Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Mar 21st, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 20th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 19th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Wind Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Mar 18th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Wind Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Mar 17th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Wind Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Mar 16th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 15th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 14th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 13th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 12th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 11th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 10th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 9th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 8th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Mar 7th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 6th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 5th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 4th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Wind Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Mar 3rd, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 2nd, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Deep Persistent Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Mar 1st, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Deep Persistent Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Feb 28th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Deep Persistent Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Feb 27th, 2025NE ridge bootleg
<p>ECT showed fracture propagation on 3 taps - about 40cm down - seemed to be new/wind transport snow sliding on sun crust. </p>
neverbenbetter,
Wednesday 5th April, 2023 8:40PM
Bootleg Storm Slab
<p>Storm snow hasn't settled as well as hoped. Multiple recent point releases and several size 1 slabs from wind-loading near the ridge. Did not run far or step down.
There were minimal signs of instability (1 X whumpf) during travel but a hasty pit gave us concerning results. ECTP 4 with planar character. 40cm of storm snow is sitting on a 1.5cm sun / melt freeze crust at approx 2300m SE facing slope. HS 200cm.
Stuck to mellow lines. Polar aspects may be better without the presence of the crust beneath the recent snow? Sadly time didn't permit travel to different aspect. </p>
cameron.l.richardson94,
Wednesday 5th April, 2023 7:00PM
Mt Evans approach
<p>The FSR has been obstructed by recent wet slab avalanches between size 0.5-2. It seemed like these originated from the rocky cliffs above the trail. We skinned on from there cautiously and stayed away from the sunny southern aspect. A firm sun crust was found on all solar aspects and new snow (about 5 cm) slid on this crust easily. </p>
neverbenbetter,
Tuesday 4th April, 2023 8:20PM
Sawtooth Crk
<p>Warm day in the alpine. Saw nothing move, but evidence of slabs releasing in steep rocky terrain on all aspects. Probed 300+ at test site. Coverage varied a lot depending on elevation and aspect. Lots of wind effect up high. Dug down 1m, CTM11 down 35cm on crust prior to last storm, CTM15 down 50cm. A non reactive layer @70cm. 4 cm melt freeze made for good travel until it melted. Real soft in valley by end of day.</p>
drijber,
Wednesday 22nd March, 2023 9:00PM
Wind slab step down
<p>Surface conditions changed suddenly at 1500 m from crusty to 20 to 40 cm of soft snow. There was a significant amount of natural avalanches from Monday night's storm, with size 1.5 to 3 storm slabs on all aspects on almost any slope steeper than 35 degrees. The new snow was mostly low density, with a thin sun crust forming on southerly slopes and some mild wind-effect along ridges.</p>
shorton,
Wednesday 15th March, 2023 4:10PM
Meachen
<p>Skied SE-NE between 1600 m and 2400 m. New sun crust on SE all the way up, but not E or NE. HS was 180 at 2000 m. Saw no recent natural avalanches, had no signs of instability. Felt some old wind slab down about 15 at ridge top but otherwise minimal wind affect. </p>
Les C,
Wednesday 8th March, 2023 8:30PM
Front Ranges
<p>Skied a weather exposed, thin (140cm HS at 2350m), west aspect up Hellroaring today where we encountered some terrifyingly large whumpfs at upper treeline and alpine elevations on old buried wind slabs and/or deeper weaknesses. We aborted plans to ski a steeper SW aspect as a result. Still, 15cm of dry fast snow made for great turns on low angle alpine terrain in the sunshine. </p>
AMcLeod,
Wednesday 8th March, 2023 6:30PM
Deep in the Southern Purcells
<p>We sought out one of the deeper snowpack areas in the southern Purcells today and were able to look down at Kootenay Lake at one point. Snowpack depth ranged from about 250 to 300 cm around 2000 m. We are continuing to avoid steep and rocky terrain and we didn't want to jump on any big features. But, we had a ton of fun working trees, carving pow and poking our heads in the snow.</p>
ghelgeson,
Wednesday 8th March, 2023 5:40PM
Spectacular St Mary's Summits ☀️
<p>We had a great day exploring up the St. Mary's. Video summary of our mindset and approach to day here:
https://youtube.com/shorts/notEZjdDKVc?feature=share
The last info we had from this area was of very large natural and human triggered avalanches about a month ago. Today we targeted one of the deeper snow zones and found a rather strong and well bonded snowpack. That being said, we were really working the terrain to avoid areas that were shallow and rocky as those are the places where it may still be possible to trigger the deeper persistent slab avalanches. We certainly wouldn't extrapolate our findings today across the Purcells, but we were pleasantly surprised to put a nice day of skiing and snow nerding together. </p>
ghelgeson,
Tuesday 7th March, 2023 4:40PM
South Purcells
<p>Skied a few quality powder runs on a north aspect between 1700 and 2200 m. The snowpack in this area was between 190 and 240 cm deep with fairly uniform coverage and minimal wind effect and few shallow areas.
A test profile at 2100 m showed a generally strong snowpack. The upper pack consisted of settling storm snow, transitioning from F at the surface to 1F down about 50 cm.
The mid pack is well bonded and strong, mostly P hardness. Two surface hoar layers were identifiable down approximately 60 cm and 90 cm.
There is a layer of 1F facets 30 cm thick near the base of the snowpack, sitting on about 20 cm of P hardness snow, possibly an early season crust.
Testing of the upper 100 cm showed a couple progressive compression results in the top 30 cm, and hard/very hard planar shears on both surface hoar layers. These benign results are representative of a protected deeper snow area, I’m sure it would be a very different story on other aspects with more variable and shallow snow cover.</p>
cordillera.tech,
Sunday 5th March, 2023 8:10PM
Some big ones have gone
<p>Major crown on north aspect. Unclear how recent. Photo taken from 3-4 kilometres away with an iPhone so it says something about the crown depth.
Sun is definitely starting to pack a punch on solar aspects </p>
Eddie Petryshen,
Saturday 4th March, 2023 7:40PM
Murffy Pass
<p>Wint to Murfy pass for a snow observation / big thk to the boys front of me breacking the first part of the trail good job!!
2400m : HS 260cm / gusty wind from S-SW with transportation / pit to 160cm deep
gradient temp a bit more then 1 degree by 10cm/ slope angle snow profile 36 degree
CTM 13 rp @ 100cm down old surface hoar / CTM 17 rp @ 100cm down old surface hoar .......
be safe up there seems to be very touchy....</p>
rvmontagne582,
Thursday 2nd March, 2023 1:10PM
Meachen south
JonBeaupre,
Tuesday 28th February, 2023 4:20PM
Trapper's powder
<p>Skied burned, S-SE aspect on Meachen.
Weather:
-16C in the am, rising to -8C in the pm. Cloudy with snow < 1cm. Light wind gusting to moderate-strong. Light snow transport on ridge line.
Snowpack:
Alpine: Mostly wind effected snow. 3 cm of P+ snow over 15cm of 1F.
Tree line: 10 - 30 cm of F dry snow sitting on 120cm of 1F- to P snow. Sun crust down 20 cm on south aspect
Test Profile:
East Aspect at 2150m
CTH24 down 20 cm - RP - layer in storm snow (possibly wind affected snow)
CTH26 down 60cm - RP - possibly layer that formed during the drought.
</p>
JonBeaupre,
Sunday 26th February, 2023 3:40PM
Matthew Crk
<p>Probed at 1960m, HS 140 with a good crust at 50cm down. Supportive skiing due to crust. Slippery suncrust under storm snow on S facing aspects.</p>
drijber,
Saturday 25th February, 2023 7:10PM
Stormy Tuesday
<p>Skied burned area from 1500m to 2100m. 30cm of new snow in the last 24h.
Few natural avalanches size 2.5 on North aspect on regular performer. Start zone in the Alpine on wind loaded feature
No signs of instability, no result on hand shear test. Some sloughing on steep terrain.
Overall, stellar day.</p>
JonBeaupre,
Tuesday 21st February, 2023 5:50PM
Overnight refresh
<p>New snow amounts increased dramatically from 10 to 40 cm as we travelled further west. No cracking or hand shear results in the new snow, but we only traveled to 1900 m and susepct there would be wind affect higher up. There had been some size 2 avalanches in steep north-facing alpine terrain, most likely dry loose avalanches.</p>
forecaster,
Wednesday 8th February, 2023 6:50PM
Adventures in Windslab
<p>Went for an explore to see what the recent snow and wind had done up on Bootleg. The closer to treeline we got, the more wind affected the snow got. Some really good riding to be had, but just have to stay down in the trees!</p>
aidan.mckenna,
Wednesday 8th February, 2023 3:50PM
Wind in the trees
<p>We spent the day tree skiing between 1550m and 2330m, the wind was Mod from the west all day gusting to strong and increasing in the pm. Moderate snow transport in open areas.
There was old faceted wind slab down to 1700m in the burnt trees. The snow pack is mainly faceted with multiple crusts in the top 60cm.
We skied north, east and south aspects all of which were good skiing. We did not see any new avalanches or have any signs of instability where we skied.
The peaks were obscure by cloud but I suspect there was cornice growth and looking across the valley there was multiple fetches stripped to rock from the recent winds.
</p>
I’m just happy when my sled starts ,
Monday 6th February, 2023 5:40PM
St Marys skiing
<p>Went to a deeper snowpack part of the St Marys and probed 170 cm at 2200 m. Ski pen was 20 to 40 cm of soft snow that partly fresh and partly faceted. We remote triggered a size 2 avalanche from about 50 m away in a tree island. The avalanche wrapped around a long way up successive slopes on southeast start zones between 2300 and 2500 m.</p>
shorton,
Saturday 4th February, 2023 5:40PM
Bootleg
<p>Good conditions but hard travel. Windy above treeline with a lot of snow being moved about. Big cornices forming in the usual areas. Round treeline and in the trees no sign of any instabilities. Presumed cornice collapse responsible for fresh debris in the alpine. Hard to gauge size from our location. </p>
cameron.l.richardson94,
Monday 30th January, 2023 6:30PM
Totes Magoats!
<p>There was about 30 cm new snow, and some wind drifting from northeast wind along ridges and in the alpine. We observed a size 1 avalanche (triggered by a mountain goat!!!), while it was crossing a steep rocky ridge line (see pictures above). </p>
Gillian Nahanni,
Saturday 28th January, 2023 5:10PM
Good Mellow Skiing
some tele hippie,
Wednesday 25th January, 2023 3:10PM
Unsupported slope test
<p>While riding at the VOR Tower, we followed the ridge line trail south. We did an impromptu 850cc trail side slope test in a shelterd location on the west side of the ridge and had a 30cm, 1-finger hardness slab fail on buried surface hoar. In open areas at ridge top we had surface hoar up to 2cm in size! Hope this gets broken down before the next snowfall!</p>
kg74,
Sunday 22nd January, 2023 6:00PM
Yay, a potential new weak layer!
<p>Significant (5 to 20mm) hoar frost development on all aspects travelled today - West /North/East up to our high point of 2330m. Winds were calm throughout the day with some intense sun mid day sun. Height of snow at 2200m was 160cm</p>
timjamesmckee,
Sunday 22nd January, 2023 10:00AM
Sparkly sunny day
<p>Widespread surface hoar on the surface up to lower alpine elevations (approx 2300 m), typical size was 8-10 mm. Upper alpine surfaces were faceted with surprisingly little wind affect. All elevations had about 5-10 cm of soft snow on crusts (below 2000m) and settled storm snow (above).
Witnessed some small loose avalanches running below south-facing cliffs in the morning sun, otherwise no recent avalanches. </p>
shorton,
Sunday 22nd January, 2023 3:10AM
Hello Surface Hoar
<p>Lots of surface hoar development within treeline elevations. About 10cm of fresh snow and surface hoar crystals on rain crust (from last weekend). Rain crust is weak under boots but creates nasty skin track conditions. </p>
lowey.jess,
Saturday 21st January, 2023 5:20PM
Musketeer Crk
<p>Full spectrum of snow quality from decent powder up high to sticky wet down low. HS 175 and dug down to 120. 3 main layers found were at 35cm (ctm12/ect16), 75cm (cth23), and 110cm (cth26/ect28). No signs of instability or natural avalanches observed. Good day out in the mtns!</p>
drijber,
Tuesday 17th January, 2023 7:40AM
Southern Purcells
<p>Raining to start changing to snow at 1500m.
~25cm of new snow at 2000m. We did a hasty profile to ground at 2100m revealing a consolidated mid snow pack on top of heavily faceted layer of ~40cm to ground. Skied conservatively on gentle slopes. </p>
phb,
Monday 16th January, 2023 11:40AM
Angus
<p>Average of 20 cm new snow with a buried rain crust up to 2000 m., skied very well above that elevation. Storm snow was reactive with a recent size 1.5 natural slab in a north facing bowl, a size 1 skier triggered 30 cm thick slab in steep tight trees (see photo), and a fair bit of stuffing.</p>
shorton,
Sunday 15th January, 2023 4:20PM
Dewar
<p>Seems like it rained up to 2000 m then about 20 cm of heavy pow at treeline. A fair bit of cracking at skis and wind drifting at treeline. No recent natural activity.</p>
shorton,
Saturday 14th January, 2023 4:40PM
Moe’s Canyon
cdmlaberge,
Saturday 14th January, 2023 3:10PM
Br Chamonix
<p>A bit of cloud and wind yesterday. Decent powder skiing up high. </p>
drijber,
Saturday 7th January, 2023 9:10AM
Meachen
<p>Fun fast skiing with 15 cm of ski pen in soft snow. Probing found 30-40 cm above a crust up to 2000 m. Total depth at 1800 m was 140 cm with 60 cm of firm snow below the crust and 40 cm of soft snow beneath that.</p>
shorton,
Monday 2nd January, 2023 6:30PM
Fire break
<p>Treeline snow depth ~ 90 cm. Lower half is very loose and facetted, possibly facetted throughout. Then 20-30 cm much denser slab from the warm snowfall this week, and another ~20 cm nice unconsolidated stuff on top. Lots of whoomfing. One impressively big one triggered by skier spanning something like 50 x 50 m and dropping snow from trees. Ski pen through the surface snow (ankle), boot pen to ground. Broke sled trail in from the road with much effort.</p>
TeeGee,
Saturday 31st December, 2022 9:50AM
Gray Creek Pass
<p>Dramatic improvement in snow quality in the last 2 days with cooler weather at Gray Creek Pass. 40cm of storm snow above the dense rain layer. Deep instability concerns had us riding well supported slopes at tree line and below. </p>
jasonthompsonclimbs,
Thursday 29th December, 2022 4:50PM
Hellroaring Branch C
ferg,
Tuesday 27th December, 2022 8:30PM
Meachan Creek
<p>Inverted temperatures, around +3 at 1800m and -2 at 1100m.
Freezing rain at 1100m
Raining hard at 1800m.
No new snow, just rain. Field observations do not match the current forecast for Kimberley area.
Riding was terrible. Rainy thick snowpack, with low visibility. Stuck to sledding in flat glades but still miserable conditions. </p>
n.rossross,
Monday 26th December, 2022 1:50PM
Trapper Crk
drijber,
Thursday 15th December, 2022 7:00PM
NE Facing Purcells
<p>A North & Northeast facing slope. Snow was stable but not a lot of it, less than other slopes in the area. Less than this time last year. Beware of tree wells! Snow is really bottomless right now and it’s easy to get sucked down.</p>
shannonbjarnason,
Sunday 11th December, 2022 3:30PM
White Boar
<p>Probed 160-180cm at 1850m on East facing slope. PWL evident and reactive after 2 shoulder taps, planar. Failed on surface hoar on a crust at 80cm depth (buried deeper than expected). No fresh slabs in our elevation band (below 1850m)</p>
cameron.l.richardson94,
Sunday 11th December, 2022 9:10AM
Dewar Cr
<p>Great day in the mountains. The snowpack is still fairly shallow (100-120 cm @ 2200 m) and in general the lower pack is faceted and weak. We experienced some whumphing and cracking on a layer of surface hoar down ~ 30 cm in protected areas, and saw where some short cut slopes had slid on this layer during the last storm. Some wind affect in the high alpine otherwise the surface was soft. Some moist snow on solar aspects in the afternoon. A few Size 1 loose sluffs on south aspects but no recent slab avalanches observed. </p>
cordillera.tech,
Monday 5th December, 2022 5:10AM
St Mary's
<p>We skied a shaded S aspect around 1600m elevation. Saw no signs of instability except for some sloughing on a S facing avy path. </p>
amandajfrankel,
Sunday 4th December, 2022 8:40PM
Purcell Bluebird
<p>We skied south facing aspect at about 7800 feet. Air temp was cool but sun was warm, definitely melting surface snow. Will be crusty tomorrow
Could hear wumphs from the north facing, steeper side over the ridge we were on</p>
shannonbjarnason,
Sunday 4th December, 2022 6:10PM
South Purcells
<p>Lots of signs of instability (whumpfing, shooting cracks) particularly at low elevations. Mid November layer (facets on sun crust) buried between 70-80 cm down on west aspect. Still very spicy and stayed in very mellow terrain. </p>
Eddie Petryshen,
Saturday 3rd December, 2022 9:20PM
🌶️Spicy🌶️😬
<p>Skied between 1600-2000m east aspect, where we had shooting cracks and whumpfing everywhere we went. The whumpfs would travel up to 20m ahead of us knocking snow off trees.
Kept it super mellow and tried to seek out the sweet spot where it was steep enough to slide in the deep snow but not avalanche. We measured 110cm of snow between 1800-2000m with the buried weak layer down about 70. Saw a few natural size 1.5s on this layer from within the last storm. </p>
lesliecrawley2,
Thursday 1st December, 2022 7:15PM