Vancouver Island
May Mountain Play
Mixed conditions at 5040 peak. Upper snowpack is isothermal. Skiing on steeper slopes created loose wet sz 1 slides and sluffs. Tarns are opening up. Overnight lows caused minor surface freezing, but it quickly broke down as temps rose. Most slopes had sloppy snow with 15cm ski penetration - little corn snow was found.
Sunday night it snowed 5cm above 1200m.
Snow depth @1100m ~1m, @1450m ~2.2m
sportnewk,
Monday 19th May, 2025 10:00AM
Big Tree Spring Ski
Raced the rain up to the Big Tree Peak zone this morning for some ocean views and pleasant spring turns.
HS ~ 100 cm at 1000 m and 150 cm at 1200 m.
Snowpack seems to be isothermal with no melt freeze crust present. We produced light wet sluff while skinning and skiing solar aspects.
We observed recent wet slides on Mt. Roberts (size 1). Surprisingly, two cornices are still hanging on above the Roberts’ west bowl. The south chute on Big Tree peak held some old avy debris, however, no signs of recent activity.
Snowline is patchy until 1100 m. Possible alternate access via the Dalrymple road system could be nice to avoid the bushwhack, cutblock, and creek crossings from the Venus side.
etheim,
Saturday 10th May, 2025 10:00AM
Cokely spring
Snow was hard and never warmed up to form much spring corn. Still looks like all of the cornices are up on the east side of the bumps.we drove to within 400m of rosseau chute traihead
twinjohn,
Sunday 4th May, 2025 12:00PM
Myra-ish
Chucked the skis on the pack and hiked up to the Mt. Myra zone for some Island spring skiing.
Snowline is at 800 m. Creeks are melted out and require sketchy dry crossings or wading. Observed ~ 3cm of fresh wind transported snow above 1400 m. Probed 180 cm snow depth at 1700 m.
Despite our early start, solar aspects were warming rapidly, with boot top penetration at times. Lots of sun cupping and evidence of prior wet slabs on solar aspects. The two north gullies off the summit col showed evidence of size 2 avalanches with debris up to 1.5 m. The cornices at the top of each gully are still hanging on. We decided to avoid skiing the gullies and enjoyed some corn-ish turns on the NW ridge.
etheim,
Sunday 4th May, 2025 7:00AM
Avalanche Forecast
Published: Apr 28th, 2025The Diverse Traverse
Did the 5040-Adder traverse as a day trip. Overnight freeze caused the snow to be very firm in the morning. Sun exposed aspects softened by 9am and all aspects by noon. Air temps to ~20degrees in the afternoon. Snow was isothermal. Many smaller skier caused wet slides while skiing and skinning on steeper slopes.
Snow depth at Adder-Jacks Col (1000m) 1.8m
Snow depth at 5040 North aspect 1150m 3.5m
sportnewk,
Saturday 26th April, 2025 3:00PM
Avalanche 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, 2025A Little Day on Big Tree
Skied Big Tree Peak. Mix of sun and cloud throughout the day. Strong ridge top winds from the west. Temps ~+5 in the alpine. Overnight melt freeze crust broke down by 11am on south aspects and 1pm on most aspects making for fun skiing.
Lower elevation creek crossings are hazardous!
Drove to 720m elevation.
This was plan B after encountering a washed out road on Ashwood at 50.27800, -126.58006
sportnewk,
Monday 21st April, 2025 12:00PM
Avalanche Forecast
Published: Apr 20th, 2025Bonanza Extravaganza!
~3cm of overnight snow. Additional 2cm fell on and off during the day. Also periods of sun.
Snow was isothermal below 1100m and made for heavy turns. Above there was a melt freeze crust which was generally supportive to skiers and the recent snowfall made skiing enjoyable.
Lots of signs of previous sz 2+ slides likely from the warming period last Wednesday / Thursday. These ran several hundred meters. See photos of examples.
North aspect snow depth 2m @1500m elevation, 1m @1000
MIN location approximate
sportnewk,
Sunday 20th April, 2025 2:00PM
Avalanche Forecast
Published: Apr 19th, 2025A Tussle on Russell
Overnight temps froze the snowpack. By mid afternoon the upper 2-5cm had softened up and made for nice skiing. Steady 40km/h from the West throughout the day. Snow fell on and off all day. ~2cm accumulation.
Snow depth 2.9m @1500m
sportnewk,
Saturday 19th April, 2025 2:00PM
Avalanche Forecast
Published: Apr 18th, 2025The Skiing was Great Above the Johnstone Strait
On S aspects the upper 20cm was extremely heavy and wet. By mid afternoon most turns on S aspects were sluffing small wet slides. N aspects skied better with ski penetration of 5cm.
Intense sun was out until clouds came in around 2pm. Light rain began around 430pm.
Parked about 1km down the branch road to Roberts due to some shaded lingering snow.
sportnewk,
Friday 18th April, 2025 1:00PM
Avalanche Forecast
Published: Apr 17th, 2025Klitsa North Gully Hellfest
A classic island ski day. Skied the North Gully of Klitsa. Skins on at about 800m. Was out the whole day and saw no active wet slides, just evidence of old ones. Skiing in the gully was nightmare-ish. Had probably slid at the beginning of the last warming/sunny period and the debris had formed into nice basketball-sized ice chunks. Walked the bottom 100m of the Gully just to get out. The choke point is about 5 feet wide right now so probably about another week before you can't ski top to bottom, get out there if ur keen for some serious type 2 fun. I'll certainly be waiting until next winter to go back.
Bobby Hummer,
Thursday 17th April, 2025 4:00PM
Avalanche Forecast
Published: Apr 16th, 2025Start when it's hard in the valley of the Bard
Not quite a tragedy but we ended up in the Capulet Creek area a bit too late to start ascending after being turned around at Schoen Lake. The access assessment was quite worthwhile though. Expect a bit of bush pinstriping on the Rooney Lake Main.
We parked at about 900m, just below the RL680 branch and had a short walk in patchy road coverage, following a few old ski tracks slowly disappearing with the low elevation snow. We turned around about 1km back from the end of the Rooney Lake Main. The area looks like it still has good potential for a daytrip with sleds not really needed to cover the short approach distance.
A final look up the Owen Creek drainange was worth the time as well, however old avalanches block the last few km of the road, just beyond Owen Lake.
Tick tock! ;)
AvCan Vancouver Island,
Wednesday 16th April, 2025 2:00PM
Schoen ain't goin'
Lots of trees down on the Schoen Road kept us out of Kokummi Pass today. Someone (Parks?) has cleared some of the way but a thick trunk at cab height turned us around roughly where the location pin is.
AvCan Vancouver Island,
Wednesday 16th April, 2025 2:00PM
Avalanche Forecast
Published: Apr 15th, 2025Sutterhorn Corn 🌽
Beautiful day for a classic Island corn harvest in the Sutton Peak area. The Nimpkish Main is super busy and tuning your radio to Woss Direct is advised! We staged sleds at about 750 m on the Fire Creek branch of the Stuart road and had a straightforward, mostly firm ascent to ridgetop with a few mercifully soft steps in spots hit by the morning sun. Ski crampons are useful early in the day but bootpacking works too.
We summitted a secondary peak on the massif and settled in for a longish break as we waited for the corn to be born. We hit it just about perfectly by starting down around 1pm. One or two turns on shady crust, one or two in punchy isothermal shmoo, but the great majority in picture perfect corn. Minor aspect changes make a big difference from slope to slope.
Still very worth it out there! Just gotta nail the timing.😉
AvCan Vancouver Island,
Tuesday 15th April, 2025 1:00PM
5040
Spring conditions were in full effect at 5040 this week. Overnight temps on Monday and Tuesday dropped below freezing, with temperatures well above 10C throughout the day. A surface crust melted late in the morning, making for some very moist, but enjoyable riding conditions mid-day. By late afternoon, the snow became completely wet, making uphill travel challenging. While setting a skin track on a steep west-facing slope, we set off a couple size 0.5 wet-loose slabs.
Snowline starts around the bluff, halfway up to Cobalt Lake. Still lots of snow up at the hut.
mlewismanning,
Tuesday 15th April, 2025 12:00PM
Avalanche Forecast
Published: Apr 14th, 2025A Fool's errand
We didn't encounter avalanche conditions today, but Low danger wasn't the reason! Zoom in on the map image to see the three access points we recce'd in the Woss area today without much luck:
-Mt Ashwood: A bit of pruning on the Gold Creek 9700 branch could open this route up nicely. The initial few bushes stopped us in our tracks, then it opens up, but does it get thicker farther down? One to check out with the sleds on a low elevation snow day next season.
-Fools Peak: A nasty rock slide impedes access as soon as you reach the Fools Creek road. It was just a bit too much for our tippy rig. A sportier setup can probably tackle it.
-Mount Elliott: Excellent road travel all the way to about 900 m where a deep patch of wet snow blocked us. It won't be there much longer! Looks all clear above but snow on the ski approach might be quite minimal as well.
Happy spring exploring! :)
AvCan Vancouver Island,
Monday 14th April, 2025 3:00PM
Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Cornices, Wind Slabs.
Published: Apr 13th, 2025Slushy
At around 1350m elevation, a large ball of snow/wet slab observed that fell from the cornice. Some evidence of type 1 natural avalanche at the gully section. Ice axe recommended as the snow pack became very slippery and slushy later in the day. Some people were attempting to clear the steep section close to summit but was difficult due to slushy conditions. Beautiful untouched snow once you clear this section.
yu.melanie93,
Sunday 13th April, 2025 12:00PM
Couple steep lines NE off the Bumps
Nice spring outing up the Saddle Route. Cool in the morning, made for a sporty route up through the trees and over any exposed rock. We ended up boot packing to the top of the Saddle as the snow was firm and kicking in toe holds seemed easier than skinning. Once up at the Saddle we transitioned to skinning and contoured around the upper bench above Jewel Lake, zeroing in on the Hour Glass feature off the NE side of the Bumps. Boot crampons and an ice axes were a must for the ascent. The snow was firm and only a thin non reactive wind slab was evident. It warmed up slightly and the snow became just barely more rideable for our descent down the Hour Glass around ~noon. No sign of instability at all. Less than 45min up and down. With success on the first line, and the sun mostly hidden behind clouds, we went to the next steep saddle just south of the Hour Glass. Similar observations were noted. It wasn't until 2pm that the snow became noticeably more enjoyable to ride, and increasingly so as we were now on our decent back down the Saddle Route to the car. It would've been nice to stay out and enjoy the corn snow for a little but Mosaic and their 4pm gate does not allow. Anyway, get out there, the snow pack at Arrowsmith/Cokely is still plentiful up at elevation.
The road up to the Saddle Route was clear, I believe this is the case all the way to the Cokely Rosseau Route too.
Cheers
corriedavidson,
Sunday 13th April, 2025 10:00AM
Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs.
Published: Apr 12th, 2025Albert Edward
Great spring conditions. Descent from the summit was soft and supportive Great turns. If the warm spring conditions persist, we'll have corn soon. Some evidence of solar exposed sections releasing as wet sluff later in the day. overall, fairly stable conditions.
kipple,
Saturday 12th April, 2025 12:00PM
Plateau trail avalanche debris
Found this avalanche debris just above the Plateau trail not too far in from the Becher trail. Not sure when it happened
jeremy.ralph,
Saturday 12th April, 2025 12:00AM
Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs.
Published: Apr 11th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs.
Published: Apr 10th, 2025April showers bring alpine powders
A quick rip up Beadnell today to see where the freezing level was and to check on how the new snow is bonding to the underlying surface. We started in the pouring rain, parking near the 3km mark on the Eden main. The creeks are getting wider all the time, and the brown spots between snow patches are growing too. The rain switched to mixed precipitation around 1300 m, and full blown snow just a bit higher. The chute is in excellent condition, and the upper trail is well packed. At the upper cabin the wind was blowing and the snow was dumping down. Around 10 cm had accumulated by 1 PM. This snow seemed to be bonding well to the wet/crusty surface below. Heading up to the alpine the visibility was low and the wind was nearly strong enough to take you off your feet. By the end of the storm there might be some nice sledding up top, if the approach can hold up against all this rain.
AvCan Vancouver Island,
Thursday 10th April, 2025 11:30AM
Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs.
Published: Apr 9th, 2025Cream Cheese at Cain
We ventured north to Mt Cain to see what the last few storms had done to the snowpack. At higher elevations, 15 cm of moist snow sits over a crust, and down low, wet snow. Wind effect was minor but small soft pockets of up to 50 cm could be found immediately at ridge crest up high.
The day was mostly cloudy, with a trace of convective precipitation. We didn't see any signs of instability, but, old pinwheeling and point releases were apparent.
Where you weren't skiing pinwheels, the ski quality was decent. It's still worth getting out! BTL is melting out quickly but there is still lots of coverage up high.
AvCan Vancouver Island,
Wednesday 9th April, 2025 2:00PM
Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Apr 8th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Apr 7th, 2025Pain and Gain at Cain
The MIN name is a shoutout to the awesome “12 Hours of Pain” Skimo event that was hosted at Mount Cain this weekend!!
~8cm of snow fell early Monday morning above 1300m. Snow was dry above 1450m elevation until sun came out around 1100 making it moist to summit.
In the West bowl a sz 1 storm slab was skier triggered on ‘Sliders’. It had a ~8cm crown, 25m width and ran for 100m. While earlier runs were skied without issue, the steepness, warming temps, and sun likely caused it to release. Skier rode out without issue.
Additionally, on Saturday in the ‘Echo Bowl’ an old sz 2.5 avalanche was discovered (which likely occurred during the natural cycle on 27 March). Crown 75cm, width 75m, ran for over 200m vertical.
sportnewk,
Monday 7th April, 2025 11:00AM
Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs.
Published: Apr 6th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Apr 5th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Published: Apr 4th, 2025Okely Cokely
A short and fun day at Cokely with typical spring conditions. Crusty in the morning with the sleds overheating on the way up, and nice soft corn skiing in the afternoon once the sun had a chance to melt the crust out. We found no signs of instability or recent avalanches. Just nice skiing and great views. Staging is possible at the gate right now and travel is very quick to the ridge top. It was great to see tracks from our local mountaineering community getting after it!
AvCan Vancouver Island,
Friday 4th April, 2025 1:00PM
Sun Burns & Corn Turns
A gorgeous sunny day at Castlecrag with great "corn skiing" in the afternoon. The snowline for staging was just past 12 km on the East Fork Main. Starting out, it was quite crusty, and ski crampons felt necessary for travel. The 10 to 20 cm thick crust capping the snowpack boosted our confidence in the low avalanche danger rating.
By the afternoon, the crust had melted out enough on sunny slopes to make for some great skiing. We saw no recent avalanches aside from a couple of small loose wet sluffs down in the cutblock that we suspect happened yesterday afternoon.
AvCan Vancouver Island,
Thursday 3rd April, 2025 5:00PM
Avalanche Forecast
Published: Apr 3rd, 2025Victoria Views
Some tricky access getting up by Victoria Peak with our sleds overheating in the crusty conditions, some bare road patches, and several tricky creek/ditch crossings to navigate. (Sled access may be done soon, we staged down on the East Main rd). When we switched to skinning it was ski crampon time right off the bat, and did not soften up much during our field day. When we reached ridgetop at 1400 m we dug a quick pit and found the crust is around 20 cm thick with moist snow below. This burly crust supported our confidence with the low avalanche danger rating. No other significant layers were found in the upper snowpack and the total snow height was just shy of 3 meters. Skiing down was a teeth-chattering afair, as even by 2 pm the sun hadn't softened it up yet. Lovely views and great weather still made for a fun day out.
AvCan Vancouver Island,
Wednesday 2nd April, 2025 8:00PM
Avalanche Forecast
Published: Apr 2nd, 2025Able at Cain
After failed attempts due to logging activity at both Mt.Alston and Macqilla, we swiched to Plan C and a took a quick jaunt up Cain and into West Bowl. There was 5 to 10 cm of moist new snow that softened up the surface and made for really fun creamy riding. Conditions were near whiteout when we reached the alpine and we saw no new avalanches, just some pinwheeling on steep slopes. The new snow was quite stuck onto the old suface and we found no evidence of wind slabs near ridgetop. With all signs pointing to low danger, we felt safe exploring the steep, comitting and complex terrain in West Bowl. A great day out, happy we were finally able to find somewhere to ski!
AvCan Vancouver Island,
Tuesday 1st April, 2025 5:00PM
Avalanche Forecast
Published: Apr 1st, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 31st, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Mar 30th, 2025Pin Wheelin’ And Dealin’
Overnight temps below 0 froze the upper snowpack. The morning started off socked in but strong to extreme winds from the East eventually blew the cloud out. By late morning it was primarily sunny with temps up to +5 in the alpine. Strong to extreme winds from the East continued throughout the day.
By mid afternoon the upper snowpack had softened greatly. Pin wheeling was occurring in the alpine on all aspects and seen wheeling for several hundred meters in areas. Several sz1 wet slides were triggered by skiers on steep slopes.
Came across two other old sz2+ slides (likely Thursday) seen in photos. One crown was ~1m, ~80m wide and ran several hundred meters. Another had a crown of ~30cm, 60m wide and ran 100m.
sportnewk,
Sunday 30th March, 2025 3:00PM
Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Mar 29th, 2025A Slog in the Fog
~10 cm overnight snow above 1100m elevation
Temps rose to +6 at the hut by 1pm causing the upper snowpack to become saturated. Plenty of pinwheeling. Snow is very heavy to ski. Visibility is poor.
Evidence of a sz 2 slide at the lake which came down a gulley feature prior to recent snowfall. Pin location represents slide debris.
sportnewk,
Saturday 29th March, 2025 4:00PM
Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Mar 28th, 2025Bowl of Milk
Today we went to check on freezing levels and new snow amounts around Mt Cain. We started up in the snain, it transitioned to heavy snowfall and moderate winds around 1300 m. There was 10 cm of dense wind transported snow in West Bowl. Not enough to be hazardous yet, but by tomorrow expect to find an avalanche problem. Today was just good skiing.
AvCan Vancouver Island,
Friday 28th March, 2025 12:00AM
Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Mar 27th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Mar 27th, 2025Brief Grief on the Massif
Today at Mt Cokely we found a breakable crust on the surface, capping the wet snow below. Moderate winds and snow have just started to bury the crust--the beginnings of our next avalanche problem. We'll take the problem in exchange for some new snow! Low fun factor snow conditions kept our skis on the rack today.
AvCan Vancouver Island,
Thursday 27th March, 2025 12:00AM
Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 26th, 2025Sunrise Summit on 5040
After spending a few days taking it easy at the 5040 hut, we finally had an opportunity to do a quick sunrise summit up 5040 before heading back down the mountain.
It was already 5 degrees departing the hut at 6:45 am. The snow had settled drastically since Sunday’s major rain fall, and we didn’t observe any signs of instability, whumphing, or cracking.
We did witness on the north east aspect near the summit some old separations on the snow that were likely from the Sunday-Monday very wet conditions. This is shown in the last photo.
We chose the slopes with the lowest angles and least overhead hazards to ski back to the hut and had an absolute blast.
kathryn.noiles,
Wednesday 26th March, 2025 7:45AM
Cruickmank
Today we toured up Cruickshank to see what the warm storm did to the snowpack. Staging at 12 km on the East Fork with a 4x4 vehicle would be reasonable. We survived a soft mushy sled approach. As we switched to skis the sun came out and offered panoramic views. We saw numerous size 1 and 2 wet loose avalanches, and one size 3 wet slab avalanche deep in the park that we suspect ran during the rain event. Just as we reached the ridgetop, the weather took a turn, wind and rain convinced us to do a quick transition and retreat to a more sheltered area. Before we tucked tail and ran we dug a quick pit and found 50 cm of wet snow overlaying a moist, trending dry, pack down to the early March crust down 120 cm. Today we felt it was still possible to trigger loose wet avalanches in steep terrain so we avoided steep pitches on our survival ski back to the sleds.
AvCan Vancouver Island,
Wednesday 26th March, 2025 12:00AM
Avalanche 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, 20255040 mm of rain
A group of 5 troopers headed out Sunday morning at 10 am to skin up to the 5040 hut, where we stayed for 3 nights.
We had warm conditions with steady heavy rain for most of the day. The snow was soft, wet, and loose which made for challenging conditions to skin up in.
We proceeded cautiously and kept our exposure to overhead hazards as low as possible. Once up above tree line, the visibility was so poor we were unable to see our surroundings, but did not witness or hear any avalanches on our way up.
Monday morning we woke up to some clear views of the surrounding terrain, and most slopes had had natural avalanche cycles over night, largest avalanche a size 3+ that went from cliffs near top of ridge all the way down to the lake. See attached photos for details. We played it very safe while up at the hut and enjoyed a lot of good food, good company, and good board games!
Will post a separate post of our Wednesday morning tour once conditions settled a bit!
kathryn.noiles,
Sunday 23rd March, 2025 10:00AM
Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Mar 22nd, 2025Powder Day
Snowshoed Becher up to 1250m elevation, no signs of recent slabs to that point. It was starting to blizzard near the summit. Even with snowshoes I post holed a few times as the snow is not packed. The snowpack is quite powdery, and significant snowfall forecasting in the next 24 hours after my hike without time for consolidation of current layer of snow increases risk of avalanche conditions.
yu.melanie93,
Saturday 22nd March, 2025 3:00PM
Did Coke With Some New Folk
Skied the Cokely zone with an ACCVI group. We shared the mountain with several other touring groups and a lot of snowmobilers on the old ski runs. Moderate ridge top winds from the SW during the day but signs of strong recent winds from the SW left alpine slopes very wind scoured and loaded depending on aspect outside of sheltered terrain.
In sheltered terrain the low density snow skied great. Ski penetration 30cm, boot penetration 50cm+.
By mid afternoon the morning sun had been replaced by cloud and light snowfall began by 1:30pm. In the afternoon below 1400m the snow was becoming heavy and wet.
*Note*
Contrary to the name, no drugs were consumed during this ACCVI club trip
sportnewk,
Saturday 22nd March, 2025 1:00PM
Alexandria recce (and some Ensure)
It was a weird day folks. Spotify downloads failed so I had Scarlet - Sweet N Pyscho, Indila’s - Derniere Danse, and The Irish Rovers on repeat in my head 🤷♂️.
Exploratory mission up to Alexandria’s southern summit. This zone has a lot of potential, especially the NE-E bowl between the main and southern summit!
Parked 2km past gate on west side of OR. Several sections of road melted out >300m. The lower southern facing cut block had 40-70 cm’s and stayed firm all day.
Above 1200m it was 10-20cms of low density powder, except a small pocket of very steep/dense trees which was heavy and tree bombs had dropped. At 1500 m and above I moved through wind transported pockets to firm ice/scoured areas. I did not see old or new avalanches or pinwheeling.
first (half) lap was 250 m and great. Took me from southern summit to bottom of upper basin.
Second lap (back to sled) was going 525 m but requires a 75m traverse halfway down to get you setup for the final fall line.
RobsObs,
Saturday 22nd March, 2025 12:00PM
Mount Cokely
The day started out sunny and clear. Had an easy skin up Rousseau chute and then a descent down the Rousseau glades. Gusty at the top. Snow was definitely wind affected with a 1” wind crust on top of very nice light powder. Overall a great day for it.
abigail.rigsby,
Saturday 22nd March, 2025 10:00AM
Mt Elma - Dawn Patrol
Great conditions. A very soft, thin, crust forming on dense powder. Tree bombs were falling on my way out. No signs of instability of any sort.
gjmackenzie,
Saturday 22nd March, 2025 9:00AM
Saddle route outing
Nice outing up the Saddle Route. The weather was calm and the snow was deep. The Av report had us taking it easy today but good turns on moderate terrain were enjoyed.
With ~80cm of snow being deposited throughout the last week with a good deal of wind, and ~20cm of that having arrived over the last couple of days, our plans for the day were simply to poke around Jewel Lake.
We found little signs of concern on our ascent up the saddle but were greeted by a size 1.5-2 loose wet slide at the base of the bumps headwall on the SE aspect (pic). Multiple other crowns were noted near the numerous steeper alpine lines on the east aspect of the bumps. Obviously loaded terrain has been dishing out naturals over the last week.
One group member triggered a ~1.5 on a convex roll just SW of Jewel Lake. It appeared to be caused by wind loading of the most recent storm snow (10-20cm crown), and was an estimated 15m wide. Member skied out from the incident unscathed.
Temps rose around noon, and Mother Nature had showed us enough signs to head on out for the day.
Sadly the rain moving in won’t let us get back on this snow after giving it more to set up. Don’t worry though folks, there’s plenty of corn snow in our futures up at Arrowsmith.
corriedavidson,
Saturday 22nd March, 2025 9:00AM
Riding High
Back to old faithful for some excellent tree skiing. Within the shade of the trees snow stayed mostly dry and low density especially above 1150m in the morning. Towards 2pm snow was becoming more creamy but turns were still great. Ski pen 15-25 cm.
Temps at the truck at 650m -2, felt similar throughout the day, warming a bit by afternoon. Light SW winds, snowing S-1 for about an hour otherwise no precipitation. Overcast all day which likely helped with ski quality.
No avalanches obs, visibility was nil. No signs of instability in the sheltered, well supported terrain we skied.
Another great day out in the POW range. Snuck in one last good one before the big warm up.
Youngbloodben,
Saturday 22nd March, 2025 12:00AM
Avalanche 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, 2025Mount Cain Monster Cornice
jeremyrandall,
Monday 17th March, 2025 4:20PM
Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Loose Wet, Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 17th, 2025West Bowl? More like Whistler Bowl!
Skied in the bowls around Cain Saturday to Monday. ~20cm of fluffy snow fell Saturday. Several slides occurred over the weekend, the most notable being a natural one on Y-Chute around 1400m which appeared to have about a 30cm crown and propagated twice lower down Sunday. The weekend was primarily cloudy in the alpine but had short windows of sun as a moderate SE wind blew through.
Low density snow was a dream! Must be the luck of the Irish ☘️
Many groups were lapping the west bowl with everything looking skied out by Monday.
sportnewk,
Monday 17th March, 2025 11:00AM
Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs.
Published: Mar 16th, 2025Whiteout at Big Tree
Great day at Big Tree. Vision extremely limited on way up, didn't bother going all the way to the peak. Visibility also made it tricky to see where we wanted to come down so we ended up skiing down close to our skin track. Cut blocks didn't have quite enough snow on them, made for a tricky time and a bit of a hike. In the trees the snow was boot deep, light powder, in the open lower down, starting to get wet and heavier.
noelleeddington12,
Sunday 16th March, 2025 2:00PM
Lots of heavy pow
Didn't make it to the peak
~15 cms of new snow.
Very foggy, flat light conditions. Deep heavy snow. Wind affected areas were ice and solid.
No signs of avalanches not even sluffing.
adrian.granchelli,
Sunday 16th March, 2025 1:00PM
Mount Washington resort West Ridge
We are observed from 1000 m to 1450 m. Most aspects.
Little wind effect was evident until you got over 1400 m then some drifting and light cornice formation was noted.
Foot penetration range from 10 to 50 cm. The crust (newer)collapses and sounds hollow.
New snow is approximately 5 to 8 cm over the crust it’s developed around 10 March.
On west aspects this crust is actually facetted and has a collapse and shear under it. A light layer of surface hoar was observed on cooler aspects buried under the new snow and above the crust. Where found produced sudden planar shears.
The best shears we observed were between 1000 m and 1400 m on west aspects with the collapsing crust on low density snow. The crust is brittle and carrying crack propagation. Despite this most slope tests were relatively uneventful.
Wind slab development is possible with 5 to 20 cm of light snow sitting near the surface.
The temperature did reach about 2° for a little while but the trees didn’t shed except for below 900 m.
No natural slides observed.
Skiers were skiing west lines from 1500m with no events 30 to 40 degrees.
Caution future snow falls as collapsing layer with faceted crust above could be surprising.
ams,
Sunday 16th March, 2025 1:00PM
Touchy Y Chute
bc2planker,
Sunday 16th March, 2025 12:00PM
Significant Warming
Did two laps of the cutblock on other side of McKay lake. Good stability lap one encouraged going for a steeper pitch having skinned back up. The sun came out and it warmed as we went up. A simple traverse across the upper pitch created significant pinwheels (see photos) and so the mellower pitch was taken. Only about 40 minutes between pictures.
adamt24,
Sunday 16th March, 2025 11:00AM
Is sledding better than skiing!? :(
We skiied <30 above beadnell lake. Our line skiied well. There were many scoured areas and many deep pockets of +30cm on the sled up + skin up. We observed one avalanche above the small lake above beadnell lake. We stayed away from very steep/large convexes but noted many sleds and TS going up them with no results..
March sun - even the hour we got - is hot! We moved quickly under south slopes to get back to our tracked motor vessels.
RobsObs,
Sunday 16th March, 2025 9:00AM
To the Trees!
Another fun day poking around the Elk Mountain zone.
Skinned up from 500 m to check out the east glades. We observed 20-60 cm of storm snow on top of a supportive crust. In isolated unsheltered areas we observed a storm slab on top of a less supportive solar crust. No signs of instability observed on the way up however.
Our main ski line was east facing between 1600-1200 m primarily on 20-30° treed slopes. While descending, the third rider in our group triggered a size 0.5 slide. The snow failed approximately 30 cm down on a firm crust. This was a quick visual observation as the slide occurred above a cliff band and our group wanted to move to a safer spot.
After some adventurous route finding we made our way back to the cut blocks. By 2 pm we noticed pinwheeling and warm temperatures ( day ranged from -3° to +5° C). The sun came out and we enjoyed some wet pow turns in one of the cut blocks. Observed melting of the snow on the road below 700 m in the afternoon.
Lots of sledders and skiers enjoying the day!
etheim,
Sunday 16th March, 2025 8:00AM
Powder day at Cokely
Weather was cloudy with light precipitation. Moderate to strong winds in the alpine.
Witnessed storm slabs releasing on convex rolls, indicating reactivity.
North-facing slopes showing more wind effect, with some scouring and deposition.
Significant wind transport in the alpine creating variable conditions.
Excellent quality dense powder, well-preserved in sheltered areas below tree line.
lukas.matejovsky,
Sunday 16th March, 2025 12:00AM
Avalanche 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, 2025