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Russell test report with image edited

Published: May 13th, 2026

Test report with an image edited

Castlecrag & Frink before the big melt

Published: Apr 18th, 2026

Summited Castlecrag then Mt. Frink from the Comox Lake, East Fork Main logging road. Drove to around 900m elevation where we couldn’t drive further on the snow. We were able to ski the logging road most all the way to the cut block below Castlecrag where we began our ascent with only a few bare patches close to where we parked. The logging road skied pretty well and fast on frozen supportive snow in the morning and then slushy and sticky on the ski out. There wasn’t crusty tracks or poking rocks like some of the other logging road skiing we’ve suffered this season. The snowpack above the trees had a hard crust down 5-30cm ( impenetrable to an inverted ski pole plunge) with a fresher snow layer above that. This softened up as the day went on and the freezing level rose. The descent was pretty good up top and became more isothermal, loose wet atop the buried crust as we skied out. As we made our way from Frink, below Castlecrag, toward the treeline, we observed fresh remnants of a natural, small (<0.5) loose wet with a crown near some protruding rocks on a steep concave slope with debris no more than 100m below. Through the steep open patches at the tree line our turns were scraping the loose wet on the crust. The temp at the peak of Frink was +5c at 1pm with an increasing SW wind, a few flakes of snow dropping, and dark rain clouds approaching. We felt a few rain drops as we got to the car and the rain picked up as we drove the logging roads and back to civilization.

Superb spring sayonara

Published: Apr 16th, 2026

It felt like we timed it perfectly at Cokely today. With over 30 cm of storm snow falling on Tuesday, we wanted to give it some time to settle before we hit the deep stuff. Good coverage existed past the gate for the road on our way up; however, once you get into the snowmobile track to the top, you are very aware that it is a thin dusting of new snow on top of bare rock and open creeks. Travel slowly and carefully. We jumped on our skis at the top of the old ski hill for a quick jaunt to the top. The wind slabs that formed during the storm were easily found, but unreactive. As the day warmed up and the sun shone, the snow was transforming quickly. On Arrowsmith we could see evidence of a couple wind slab avalanches that looked to have occurred during the storm and a small amount of loose wet activity that was just beginning out of the steep rocky cliffs. The ski line down was smooth and buttery, unless you pushed too hard into your turns; then the impenetrable crust below made its presence known. By the trip down on the sleds, the creeks were reopened and much of the road was bare. Access may be challenging for a little while with deep snow in the shady corners and lots of bare gravel in the sunny spots.

Not enough dust to hide that crust

Published: Apr 15th, 2026

Everyone loves a spring powder day. With 20 cm of new snow on the station at Cain we had to go check it out. The wind had definitely moved the new snow around, it varied anywhere between 5 and 25 cm of new snow over the crust. While this made the skinning conditions great, it was just enough new snow to hide the refrozen chunder that lay below. These conditions made for surprising turns with hidden perils. While the wind had definitely built what looked like wind slabs, on slope testing we found there were no slab properties and the new snow was well bonded to the crust below. Short windows of sun amongst the clouds packed quite a punch, making the surface of the snow moist and sticky by midday. With this in mind, we headed into West Bowl and did our best to distinguish buried old avalanche debris from otherwise smooth surfaces.

Wallowing and then a super gully on Jagged Mountain

Published: Apr 11th, 2026

Very warm day. Mix of crust, firm and Isothermal below 1100m. Found many holes and alot of Alder. Very slow. Above 1100m snowpack became firmer half a boot to knee penetration all the way the summit. Great conditions up the super gully for step kicking and the old slide gave us confidence. Thankfully it became cloudy as the solar input was making the final summit gully soft. I measured slope angles about 25-30 generally in longer gully, steepening to 35-40 right at the top. The summit gully was 35 ish, and final 10-20m steepened up to 40-45 degrees Watch for active logging just off the highway at south main we were lucky to get through during a break (thanks guys!). Cleared 4 small trees and creatively got under a bigger one. If you are taller than a 4runner unless you own a decent gas chainsaw don't bother going.

Sun Slush & Shady Ice

Published: Apr 5th, 2026

Cultivating Corn at Cain

Published: Apr 10th, 2026

Headed up around Mount Cain today, found much the same as yesterday except with better snow coverage! You can get around on skis at 1000 m without too much navigating, and then it gets better from there. As expected, it is full-blown spring conditions, hard and crusty in the morning and soft, slushy, and sticky by the afternoon.

Sunburnt Ridge

Published: Apr 9th, 2026

The trick these days is getting to where there is snow. If you can find a way, don't rush there if ski quality is what you are looking for. Clear and cool nights are building a thick crust, making for scrapy, scratchy, icy skiing in the mornings. South-facing slopes get soft by around 10 am, the shaded ones take an hour or two of sun to make them manageable, and one or two more to make it enjoyable corn skiing. Then the golden hour passes, and as the surface snow gets wet, everything gets a little sticky. Coverage on the north aspects is holding on above 1100 m, the south aspects are getting "a little sparse." No new avalanche activity from what we could see, but a bit of old loose wet and some large roller ball debris. The lakes are starting to open up as well.

Boomerang

Published: Apr 6th, 2026

Great slushy laps with some drum like sounds when going up hill

Sun bowl

Published: Apr 5th, 2026

Great slushy laps with some ice patches in some places

Snow conditions on Alexandra Peak

Published: Apr 4th, 2026

30cm+ of powder in the bowl West of Alexandra Peak. By 11:00 AM things warmed significantly.

Arrowsmith Yin and Yang

Published: Apr 4th, 2026

Conditions seemed to vary depending on how wind and sun affected the area was. One side of the gully was much firmer than the other, the soft side seemed to have a poorly bonded fasset layer on top and the other side was better but still tricky going. A lot of foot penetration everywhere. Decent via judges was tricky at times with slushy snow from the southern exposure on top of ice, then bare ice below the treeline on the trail.

Crusty Albert Edward winter route

Published: Apr 3rd, 2026

Camped out at Circlet on Thursday and Friday and poked our noses towards Albert Edward (AE) on Good Friday. The seasonal feeze/thaw morning crust was in effect with a 180cm snowpack at Circlet. We ascended the winter route on semi-breakable crust in the am on Friday. Ski pole handle would plunge ~30cm until hitting a solid ice layer. There was a breakable layer ~5cm below recent Wed snow (See pic). This had softened at lower elevation, closer to Circlet later in the day Friday. Onto the ridge between Jutland and AE was a slippery wind crust and we wished we had brought our ski crampons. We didn’t go beyond the ridge due to unfavourable conditions - crust, fog, and a miserable SW wind. AE looked to have a lot of wind loading on the cornice and gully (see pic when a break in fog accommodated a snap). No signs of slides other than some melt pinwheeling and a few rocky spots likely from the Thursday solar. In the afternoon Friday, around Circlet, solar aspects were loose/wet and could be ski cut to slide a bit, as on the way out Saturday along the trail to Helen Mackenzie. Overnight snow on Friday was not sticking in the trees until 100m or so above Circlet where there was a definitive snow line (see pic from circlet up to winter route). We crossed Lake Helen Mackenzie on the ice both ways, along the edge on the way in and across the middle on the way out.

Myra

Published: Apr 2nd, 2026

Nice day out on Myra - winter above 1000m on north aspects, spring most other aspects. Approached directly via E Tennent creek. Warming trend through morning and early afternoon with significant solar effect early on. Thankfully high cloud developed that calmed the sun's input up high quite dramatically. 10-15cm new snow from yesterday's small storm was sitting on a soft crust at TL and above. Non wind affected terrain was stable with steep slopes skinned without any issue. 2 small N facing wind affected test slopes at ridge crest released, one remotely from near its base. A little more touchy than we'd expected. We altered our plans to ski higher north facing terrain with wind affected entry as the wind slabs built yesterday hadn't settled yet, and/or were perhaps re-energized by the warming temps as the day went on. Had a nice ski out similar to our approach line.

Spring is in full swing

Published: Apr 2nd, 2026

“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Conditions change pretty fast, if you don’t get out in to the backcountry every once in a while, you could miss it.” Yesterday near Strathcona Park we found ~20 cm of fresh pow, signs of a building storm slab, and lots of wind moving snow around. Fast forward to today and it’s a very different story. By the time we got up 1450 m at noon, the snow surface was already moist from warm temps (2° in the shade). Loose wet point releases were all over Cokely bowl. Avalanche problems change rapidly this time of year, and sun packs a punch. It can change from full on winter (like yesterday), to spring in a matter of minutes. Access was smooth, you can slide on snow just past the gate at km ~8 on the Pass Main. The day was warm, sunny and cloudy. Wind was light from the NW and we did not see any wind transport occurring up high. Riding was meh, but much better than it was in January!

Stormy Strathcona

Published: Apr 1st, 2026

We headed to the Cruickshank/Castlecrag zone today for a quick mid-Island 'core sample' of the storm. Sliding on snow started from 12.5km on the East Fork, ie. bottom of the first switchback. There were a couple short rocky patches on the road being covered up with 2cm per hour snowfall all day. Skinning up in the trees we found about 10 cm of new snow on yesterday's melt freeze crust, which was mostly breakable but somewhat supportive in open areas. It was possible to stomp through it for better purchase instead of slipping and washing out on steeper steps. As we climbed, we got an inkling of a thin storm slab forming with skin track corners sliding on the crust; this increased a bit as we reached treeline. Surprisingly, what seemed like a pretty touchy little storm slab at times didn't really perform in the couple of ski cuts we tried on the way down. We decided against an alpine push due to low visibility, but suspect we would have seen more reactivity up there in the wind. The buried crust was still a bit annoying on the way down, but hey! It's still snowing! 😃

Access Bonanza and a Fool's March

Published: Mar 31st, 2026

We had the weather and snow conditions we wanted for a scrappier trip to an unknown zone, but got turned around by a large tree across the road at about 50.32984 -126.71846, preventing us from reaching not one, not two, but three of our destination options in the Bonanza range today. We settled for an approach of Fools Peak from the same side, which worked out ok but no sleds beyond the road with current coverage at 900m. Traveled to only 1000 m. A breakable crust had formed in more direct solar terrain but softened up reasonably with daytime warming. Very skiable by island standards. In the shade, there's still 40 cm of dry snow on the most recent crust! That's 40 reasons to get your butt out there! ;)

Island Alpine Guides - AST Field Day

Published: Mar 29th, 2026

Great day out on an AST1 Field Day with Nanaimo Search and Rescue. We traveled around the Little Washington area off of Mount Washington. Cold overnight temperatures were preserving 10cm of low density snow on all aspects protected from the sun. Surface hoar to 5mm observed on the surface. The Pineapple melt freeze crust is down about 25cm, and all well-settled snow below that. We found a height of snow at 1400m averaging 200cm. No new avalanches observed. IAG accesses this area under agreements with the land owners and operators.

Bed of cement

Published: Mar 28th, 2026

We got to the Bedwell Lake trail head with chains on the truck on Friday morning. Skinned from the car to Bedwell Lake through steadily deeper schlurpy. We were able to skin over both lakes and made camp at Bedwell Lake. Friday night precip was somewhere between rain and snow. Saturday morning cleared by 9AM. We attempted to skin to Big Interior and found breakable crust causing us to question our life choices. Aborted below the Big Interior north cirque and turned tail for fear of twisted knees. We noticed pin wheeling off the north aspect of Big Interior as we were skinning back across the lake. There was also evidence of avalanche crowns high on big interior - maybe windslab from earlier in the week, very hard to say given how far away from it we were. Back at the truck the road had melted out by the time we got down.

Maquilla the thrilla

Published: Mar 26th, 2026

Well-prepared for an epic pow day, we headed up the Nimpkish Main today with our sights set on a Maquilla session. We staged at 700m but access conditions were changing rapidly with 3-5 cm per hour snowfall all day. By 1200m we were in the thick of it, finding 20-30cm ski penetration which made our ascent manageable but a bit slow. As we approached ridgetop we began to feel the wind and noticed evidence of wind transport and wind slab formation, which increased steadily with elevation. It wasn't hard to push out shooting cracks or little wind/storm slab releases on micro steeps. After a nasty bushwack to avoid the avalanche slope on the summit pitch, we dug a snow profile at 1530m and found progressively dense storm snow layers topped by 24cm of brand new, low density snow, firming up just a bit before our first (1cm) melt freeze crust down about 40 cm. Our extended column test produced an easy, propagating shear down 24 cm and a moderate, non-propagating shear down 33 cm. We didn't get anything moving on either crust (the thick March 20 crust is down about 60 cm.) Yay! The descent in more sheltered, low angle trees was killer and face shots were continuous. Our skin tracks (and even sled tracks!) were completely filled by new snow and wind on our return trip - endless refills! March madness continues to deliver the goods!

Recovering Russell

Published: Mar 24th, 2026

Recent snowfall over the past few days, combined with a warming trend and strong winds, prompted us to head out and assess the snowpack's recovery from the atmospheric river on the North Island. We travelled north along Highway 19 past Sayward to Mount Russell, where we found reliable snow access by snowmobile starting around 900 m. In the field, we encountered strong winds with clear evidence of wind transport in open terrain at treeline, along with indicators of a developing wind slab problem. With so little snow left in most of below treeline, hazard was minimal. We observed 5–10 cm of new wet snow sitting on a 1–2 cm thick melt-freeze crust, overlying approximately 10 cm of additional wet snow above last week’s atmospheric river crust. Snow depth at 1200 m ranged from 70–90 cm. We suspect hazard would have been a step more serious in treeline and especially alpine terrain, where dry accumulations would better lend to wind slab formation. Snow access remains reliable—winter isn’t over yet! 🌨️

Myra Monday

Published: Mar 23rd, 2026

Good ski day on Myra, sun in the morning turning to clouds by noon. Very enjoyable 10-15cm sitting delicately on a hard icy crust. Bit of sluff sliding around but nothing dodgy. Enjoyable powder up top soon turned to heavy wet at around 1300M.

Sticky like a spilled can of Coke(ly)

Published: Mar 17th, 2026

Today’s lack of torrential rain was a pleasant and unexpected surprise. The light drizzle and occasional blue sky cameo made for an enjoyable exploratory mission, in comparison to yesterday’s monsoon. We staged at the Arrowsmith Park gate and ventured up the road towards Mount Cokely. We were also pleasantly surprised that the snow level was low enough that we could start sliding right from the gate. Up at Mount Cokely we decided to dig a snow profile to see just how far the rain has penetrated the snowpack. We dug down almost 1m, at which point we discovered ice so thick we thought we were going to break our shovels. We also discovered The top 40cm of snow was isothermal and everything below was moist and or crust. We did not observed any evidence wet-loose avalanches, however we did see some pinwheeling throughout our travels. Note to self: bring an ice axe if attempting to dig snow profiles to ground.

Mount Cain West Bowl

Published: Mar 14th, 2026

Busy day in the west bowl. Rode W and N aspects with 10-40cm of dry snow. Could not get anything to move from ski cutting and did no observe any signs of instability on those aspects. Did notice small debris on S and E sun affected aspects. We stayed away from sunny slopes. Did not perform any further avalanche or snow reports.

Dribble Drabble ☔️

Published: Mar 16th, 2026

After being turned around on the Elk main due to active forestry work, we braved the atmospheric river and headed out on sleds toward Mount Drabble. We kept our travel below treeline due to the high avalanche danger and spent the day sharpening our rescue skills. We drove up the Strathcona Parkway and parked at the 9 km pullout before setting out along the road to investigate the rain line. What we found was rain, rain, and some more rain. The ~20 cm of recent snowfall has been completely saturated, soaked through down to the melt-freeze crust. We did not see any loose wet avalanches but suspect a widespread cycle is occurring. Stay dry out there! 🌧️❄️

Boris

Published: Mar 15th, 2026

We started at 8am and our first objective was Mt Cameron. We drove as far as we could and had to even cut through a tree to get access but haven’t reached a snowline. We changed our plans then drove up toward Mt apps. We made it to the snow line and then up tracked on the logging road ( snow was good with almost no visible rocks on the road). It was foggy and the snow really picked up. We stayed at a cabin for lunch. At the top the wind formed some windslabs and pretty cornices. There was a lot of dust on crusts at few points. The skiing at the top was amazing and booming down on a logging road definitely made our legs burn! A good day out.

Big day out, a couple great turns

Published: Mar 14th, 2026

A big day out to Kings! Final some great weather and snow! Travel was slow but well worth it. There was snow at the trailhead (~350m), started skinning at about 850m. The gully right before the meadow was a boot pack for much due to the steep terrain and soft snow sluffing down to a hard crust. We dug a pit at the base of the main gully (no sun ow wind effect, maybe wind loading, 1200m, slope angle ~35°). Top 20cm is soft to a fist, then the next 60cm is soft to 4-fingers, then the older snow is all consolidated (we stopped digging about 30cm into the crust), hard to a finger/knife. With a column test, there was a small pop between the lightest snow and the next layer with 4, hits bending at the elbow. Then a pop between the new snow and the crust with 4 hits bending at the shoulder. Overall we saw the snow compress, no failure, giving us the confidence to continue. The party ahead of us reached a point where there was visible wind effect (1370m). From our understanding, they did a quick column test with gloves that propagated to a 3-4m crown, 20cm deep. That became all of our turn around points. With some quick digging at the spot, there were numerous gaps just below the snow surface. Very fun riding back down into the meadows with some fun and interesting survival skiing below that.

Kings

Published: Mar 14th, 2026

Kings peak main gully - about half way up found a bit of wind slab which propagated across the gully. Varied 20cm-5cm crown. Size 0.5. Skied awesome powder from half way up the gully.

Bluebird on Mt Cameron

Published: Mar 14th, 2026

Mt Cameron tour The road was quite thin and driveable to about 650 m. Gorgeous views great company. The bluebird forecast and the min earlier in the week enticed us to go explore locally rather than further north Skied up Cameron and down to the Cameron and Apps col. Travel was slower than expected so decided not to try up to Apps and return home Ski quality was generally mediocre. Snow conditions were very variable - a few non wind effect spots held nice dry power, it was generally was either wind effected, heavy and wet (south aspect we skied), or a bit of a sun crust. Very little snow below about 1100m. My ski bases aren’t happy about the road especially near the bottom. Would recommend going above 1300m to non solar aspects (north aspects) thats where the good stuff is (was?). Nothing a couple meters of snow wouldn’t cure

IAG - Mount Adrian Heli Access Ski Tour

Published: Mar 14th, 2026

Great day of heli accessed ski touring on Mount Adrian. Mod-strong NW winds from early AM had formed wind slab and wind effect at ridgetop. Anywhere protected provided excellent powder skiing. Breakable suncrust on any solar aspects. A few old storm slab releases observed to size 2. One skier accidental size 1.0 on an immediate lee feature right below ridgeline down 10cm in windslab. Island Alpine Guides accesses this terrain under a commercial use agreement with the landowner.

Brilliant Backside

Published: Mar 14th, 2026

Found some nice turns on the backside of Washington, 15-20cm on crust. Snow stayed cold and dry through early afternoon at higher elevations (above ~900m). Evident wind effect in open areas, with ridges and NW aspects completely scoured. Wind slab also noted on lee slopes (~E). Breezy and fast logging road exit with coverage down to ~750m.

Beaufort Range Conditions

Published: Mar 11th, 2026

Up into the Beauforts for a morning ski. Snowline at about 750m, with 100 or so metres of travel beyond this elevation of light snow on a previously bare road, making for less than ideal (but shortlived) travel. Good coverage beyond that. Dust on crust (approximately 15cm of new snow). Thin snowpack in this area, only 85cm base at 1250m. Expect more up higher, but we played in the mellow treeline due to wind, low visibility and limited time. Intense snowfall between 11am and 1pm produced another 10cm, and was still snowing when we exited. Some sluffing on steep rollovers on the melt freeze crust.

Alder bAshwood and a Fool's Jewel

Published: Mar 10th, 2026

We made what appears to be our final attempt at Ashwood today, at least until some serious brush clearing takes place up the Gold Creek valley. There was about 30 cm on the Fools Creek Main where we unloaded sleds and began our goose chase. We pivoted to a trip in the Fools Peak area and were pleasantly surprised with good sled access beyond the truck-blocking road washout (at ~400m where the Main turns west) and an interesting tour along a low (1050 ish m) ridgetop, saving Fools Peak proper for another day. At 1000 m it was more like 40 cm of new snow on 15 cm of old coverage on the ground. Was fun to play around in but 'early season' hazards were a real concern with such meagre base. Winds were perceptible but not enough to move snow at our elevation. We suspect it had a bit more umph at treeline and alpine ridgetops. We got just an inkling of soft slab forming around at around 900 m after a short descent. Otherwise, the snow was light and fluffy pow Even so, snow falling at 3cm per hour most of the day was enough of a sign to play it conservative. North Island pow times are back! Surely due to the insanely good vibes at BC Fest. ;)

Island Alpine Guides: Cain Mar 7-9

Published: Mar 9th, 2026

How quickly fortunes turn on the Island! We were up at Mt Cain for the Backcountry Fest. Saturday was rain, rain, rain, but that didn't damper the enthusiasm of all the keen folks who showed up for backcountry clinics and other festivities. That evening rain turned to snow, and we had a nice transition to cooler temps and about 15cm of new snow overnight. Good skiing in the West Bowl on Sunday, with the fresh snow stuck well to the newly formed crust. Moist snow beneath crust. Power flurries in the afternoon produced another 10cm of very low density snow. Another 10cm low density Interior-like snow overnight made for very nice conditions in the East and West Bowls on Monday (today). Could still feel the melt-freeze crust in steeper terrain and near ridgetops, but otherwise low density powder skiing on all aspects. No new avalanches observed.

5040 7/8 March

Published: Mar 7th, 2026

Saturday rain to summit. Slush everywhere. No wet loose activity observed but visibility was terrible. It must have cleared over night - Sunday morning there was rime ice on the summit. South east aspects just started to soften at 11. Ski out varied from bullet proof crust to deep slush below the lake. As of Sunday early afternoon you can drive to the trailhead. Anticipate this will change next week.

Elk Tracks

Published: Mar 4th, 2026

Headed up to Elk today to recalibrate after a week away and found some reasonable skiing by Island standards. We staged sleds at around km 3.5. Surfaces vary a lot depending on aspect and timing. Isothermal mush in direct sun at treeline and below, mostly supportive crust in the shade (as thin as 1 cm in the alpine), with a few cm of new snow on top at treeline and above, and a bit of everything in between as the sun and shade moved around and the day warmed up. We dug a profile on the highest north aspect we could find and located our surface hoar layer about 60 cm deep in dry snow (40 cm deep in moist snow on solars). It produced hard, resistant compression test results and no extended column test results. Probably will take a good bout of rain to wake it up, but it's there!

Cokely Ski Tour

Published: Mar 1st, 2026

We skinned up the Rousseau Chute (11:00) and skied down the North route (13:30). Snow conditions were lighter and less crusty but wind affected near 1500m but heavier as we descended with areas of hard crusty snow in the shade. No signs of previous avalanche activity. No cracking or whumpfing. Some pinwheeling on sun affected aspects in lower elevations.

Arrowsmith

Published: Mar 1st, 2026

Conditions were stable. Avalanche debris and long crown on all the steep slopes. More snow down lower but very hot in the sun.

Crust at Mt Brooks

Published: Feb 28th, 2026

We planned to hike up Mt Allen Brooks but only made it to the col between Brooks and Elma. Recent warm temperatures had turned the new snow into a widespread melt-freeze crust, which limited travel and we decided to turn around at the col. Traveling uphill was generally easy on a supportive surface, but the breakable crust made descending challenging and inconsistent. Weather was sunny with temperatures above 0°C. No recent avalanche activity was observed. Snowpack was dominated by a melt-freeze crust at all elevations traveled, with strong solar and temperature effects on the recent snow.

Good day in thar hills - Elk Mountain

Published: Feb 28th, 2026

Beautiful sunny day and amazing day for a workout up high. Decent skiing to be had above 1300m - the price to pay is bumping through frozen snow mobile tracks and breakable crust to get there. Bit of soft on top of the crust above 1300m. Did a couple of laps of north glades. Avoided some wind loaded features off of the ridge.

Forbidden Plateau

Published: Feb 27th, 2026

Snowpack was still soft but very heavy and wet

All-time Allan Brooks

Published: Feb 25th, 2026

Lapped Allan Brooks for the whole day as the only group in the area. Excellent conditions on N facing slopes at treeline and below treeline. No signs of instability. Multiple negative hand shears on N aspect. Breakable sun crust on S aspects.

Becher Overnight Tour

Published: Feb 22nd, 2026

Overnight from Sat to Sun. Encountered Whomping on Day 2 in open trees as we skied down the up track.

Myra

Published: Feb 21st, 2026

Went looking for somewhere to ski without much luck. The snow felt good with adequate coverage around 1100m+ but no safe, accessible ski terrain. Not enough snow in the forest to go direct to the bowl on skis so we took the summer route. It was a bit convoluted getting through the bluffs after leaving Tennent Lake. The lake was still a bit thin to walk on. Triggered a 0.5 on myself (pictured) while walking below a north facing roll at around 1130m and turned around when we got to the steep section heading up to Sandbag. The exit sucked below the pipe-bridge. Needs another storm or two to be skiable.

Island Alpine Guides

Published: Feb 22nd, 2026

Island Alpine Guides AST+ course in the field today. Very dynamic weather conditions with 60cm overnight, and approximately 40cm over the day. Wind, humidity and warmer temps at lower elevations all worked to form a solid 60cm deep slab sitting on previous surfaces. We experienced significant whumphing in all areas traveled today, from 1300-1450m, mostly west and northwest aspects. We also observed multiple recent natural avalanches to size 1.5. The bed surfaces of these avalanches were already being re-loaded by wind and new snow. We dug a test profile (snowpack depth here of 240cm) at 1450m on a northwest-facing ridgeline feature, and observed easy compression test results (sudden collapse) down 60cm in very preserved surface hoar to 25mm in size. Below this surface hoar was a layer of decomposing crusts and facets about 15cm in depth, with a solid snowpack beneath that to ground. This test result, combined with observations of natural avalanches and many significant whumphs over the day kept us out of any avalanche terrain. These conditions are very concerning given the persistent nature of surface hoar, and the depth at which it is buried. Much caution should be given to this interface, as it could be an issue for some time to come. You can't outsmart a deep persistent weak layer! Island Alpine Guides accesses this terrain under agreements with the land owners and operators.

Circlet Lake Route information

Published: Feb 21st, 2026

Weather: -10 to -5 degrees (estimated), snowing very heavily. Strong winds gusting upwards of 40kmh (estimated) On Friday we went up towards circlet lake but ended camping early on the western end of forbidden plateau, with the plan to head towards circlet lake today and then head back tommorow . Friday the snowpack was relatively stable with quite a few rain layers mixed in. And some slush persisting lower in the pack. Overall well blended together. When we woke up approx 50cm of heavy powder had fallen with significant wind shifting creating loaded spots. We decided to call it and head home as with the new snow trail breaking became very difficult so we did not want to wait for more to fall. As we were traversing the plateau we noticed whoomphing and shooting cracks, even in spots that where practically flat(less than 5 degrees in slope). Additionally we could hear large avalanches in the distance throughout the day. Coming down to lake Helen Mackenzie(steepest segment) we stayed in dense trees and the snow held fairly well with only small amounts of sluff coming down(no slab slides). Regarding riding conditions the snow while deep was quite heavy and not very fun to ski on as we kept sinking and getting stuck even on the steeper slope

Do the hokey Cokely and turn yourself around

Published: Feb 21st, 2026

Great day out on Cokely. We were able to drive to about half a km past the fork to the ski hill road, almost to 1100 m! Definitely a treat to be able to drive that high! We went up the Rosseau Chute trail, conditions were scary thin - about 30 cm of fresh on top of bare ground, there was no base to speak of until just below the treeline. Very windy conditions and poor visibility at the top of the old ski hill but the fresh snow was mostly not yet consolidated and still fluffy, although it was starting to feel heavier on the leeward side of slopes. We found some amazing light fluffy pow sheltered in the trees on the east side of the old ski hill. There was more of a base under the fresh snow in the ski hill area and we didn’t encounter any sharks. One skier in our group did set off a small slide when he skied over a wind lip that had formed on the leeward side of an isolated terrain feature, however he remained on his feet and was able to continue skiing.

A Cautionary Valuable Lesson

Published: Feb 15th, 2026

Return of the Maq(uilla)

Published: Feb 19th, 2026

Epic day at Mt Maquilla in the always spectacular Nimpkish Valley. The day was cool and sunny, alpine temps reached a balmy -5 by 1 pm! (0° in direct sun). Wind was calm. We hit thin snow on the sandpit road at 600 m, and started sliding on snow at 800 m due to a decent sized tree across the road. Access overall was breezy, doesn’t get much better in our experience. The skin track to ridge top was an ASMR enthusiasts dream. Big beautiful surface hoar crystal up to 3 cm tall dominate the surface all the way to mountain top, which makes a satisfying SHHHH sound when it topples over. Ski quality was outstanding, 50 cm of dry snow cover the January crust. We did not have any results in snowpack tests or see any signs of instability.

Unexpected sweet turns at 5040

Published: Feb 15th, 2026

Very distinct layers of snow: ~10 cms fresh, followed by ~25 cms of hard packed, and then extremely hard packed/ice that's difficult to dig into. There were many signs of heat effects on sunny slopes from previous warmer days. No new signs of heat effects. Some minor sluffing from the new snow on steeper slopes - natural and human triggered.

Spring Conditions

Spring Conditions

Spring Conditions

Avalanche Forecast

Published: Apr 27th, 2026

Avalanche Forecast

Published: Apr 24th, 2026

Avalanche Forecast

Published: Apr 23rd, 2026

Avalanche Forecast

Published: Apr 22nd, 2026

Avalanche Forecast

Published: Apr 21st, 2026

Avalanche Forecast

Published: Apr 20th, 2026

Avalanche Forecast

Published: Apr 19th, 2026

Avalanche Forecast

Published: Apr 18th, 2026

Avalanche Forecast

Published: Apr 17th, 2026

Avalanche Forecast

Published: Apr 16th, 2026

Avalanche Forecast

Published: Apr 15th, 2026

Avalanche Forecast

Published: Apr 14th, 2026

Avalanche Forecast

Published: Apr 13th, 2026

Avalanche Forecast

Published: Apr 12th, 2026

Avalanche Forecast

Published: Apr 11th, 2026

Avalanche Forecast

Published: Apr 10th, 2026

Avalanche Forecast

Published: Apr 9th, 2026

Avalanche Forecast

Published: Apr 8th, 2026

Avalanche Forecast

Published: Apr 7th, 2026

Avalanche Forecast

Published: Apr 6th, 2026

Avalanche Forecast

Published: Apr 5th, 2026

Avalanche Forecast

Published: Apr 4th, 2026

Avalanche Forecast

Published: Apr 3rd, 2026

Avalanche Forecast

Published: Apr 2nd, 2026

Avalanche Forecast

Published: Apr 1st, 2026

Avalanche Forecast

Published: Mar 31st, 2026

Avalanche Forecast

Published: Mar 30th, 2026

Avalanche Forecast

Published: Mar 29th, 2026

Avalanche Forecast

Published: Mar 28th, 2026

Avalanche Forecast

Published: Mar 27th, 2026

Tsitika Summit

BC Ministry of Transportation & Infrastructure