Vancouver Island
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, 2025Apps
Skied a gully feature on an east aspect from 1400m on Mount Apps in amazing low density boot top powder. Not much of a storm slab development on the easterly aspect we skied, though the feature was also quite sheltered. We poked our noses into a steep north facing cut block at 1250m (did not ski) and there was substantial windslab development and ongoing wind loading.
Snow became heavier and held more moisture at and below 1000m.
Southerly winds were moderate gusting strong on the ridge, moderate transport noted. Temps were perfect, likely around -4 or -5 at TL. Overcast until 1pm and then broken skies.
No avalanche observations, though visibility was quite limited.
No signs of instability on the aspect we skied, but as mentioned above the north aspect we looked at was quite loaded and snow became stiff and drummy as the ridge rolled over.
Excellent day out with the fellas and the pup.
Youngbloodben,
Saturday 15th March, 2025 12:00AM
Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs.
Published: Mar 14th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 13th, 2025Bucks Northern trees
nathanielglickman,
Thursday 13th March, 2025 11:00AM
Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Mar 12th, 2025Maquill-ahhh
During hard times last season we made a scout trip to Maquilla Peak in hopes of one day returning for some actually skiing.
We made it happen today and boy was it worth the wait! Access via the Nimpkish main and Pass main was dreamy. We were able to travel on sleds from the 700 m mark all the way up to 1200m on logging roads. From there it was a cruisey 1.5 hr skin to the north west sub peak. The sun was poking in and out of the convective skies and there wasn’t a lick of wind on our cheeks.
We observed stiff wind transported snow on the surface in high north facing terrain. But a quick dig before our descent didn’t set off any alarms bells and it was game on. The turns were boot top high and creamy soft. We skied the main line down the north west aspect with smiles from ear to ear.
AvCan Vancouver Island,
Wednesday 12th March, 2025 12:00PM
Island Alpine Guides Mount Washington Backcountry
20cm recent storm snow came with moderate winds. We approached steeper features with caution given newly formed storm slabs. At Ginseng chute managed to stomp on a small convexity just above the start zone proper and have a small cookie slab slide into the start zone triggering a soft slab size 1.5 with a 25cm high fracture line that took out the entire top of the start zone. On in a similarly steep feature on the north ridge (the most common line of decent) we got the same result with a ski cut producing a size one which covered existing ski tracks. Also saw several natural and skier accidental size 1 loose dry and slabs in steeper features. Snow became moist during the day with direct sunlight and rising temperatures.
Island Alpine Guides accesses the Mount Washington backcountry under an agreement with the landowner.
info,
Wednesday 12th March, 2025 12:00PM
Blowkley
We spent the day at Mt Cokely.
Skies were mixed and wind was light out of the south. Evidence of strong wind last night was apparent. We found 15-30 cm of wind affected snow on the surface. Although it wasn’t very receptive to our ski cuts or snow pack tests, we had no results in either.
Ski conditions were decent, a good turn or two until the stiff snow grabs your tails.
AvCan Vancouver Island,
Wednesday 12th March, 2025 11:00AM
Forbidden Fruit
Snow all the way down to the parking lot! At 1000m, the snow was in-between dry and wet in and out of the trees, slightly on the heavier side. 230cm base half way up to Beecher. Probably lots of fun fluffies up top.
Ran short on time so turned around early.
Dug a pit and a standard column test before going back and recieved these results:
Storm snow observed with about 30cm of new snow.
Fist penetration down to 45cm from the surface
4 fingers down to 70cm from the surface at major crust layer.
1 fingers down to 70cm from the surface
Column test:
First failure at 15 hits at 30cm depth
Second failure 27 hits at 50cm depth
Not a very reactive failure.
Overall the terrain was mellow and well protected in the trees from wind. Avalanche hazards felt very minimal in this terrain. New snow seems to be settling well on the old layers at lower elevations.
taokwerner,
Wednesday 12th March, 2025 10:00AM
Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs.
Published: Mar 11th, 2025Elkstasy
Another one for the books at Elk Mountain today. The skiff of overnight snow changed little and it's still utterly epic powder riding out there. There has also been very little wind effect to mess with our 70-100 cm of storm snow. Even upper treeline slopes looked to have been spared. We saw some fresh dry loose avalanches up to size 1 on very steep features, otherwise no new avalanches. We kinda felt like a size 1 avalanche ourselves as we pushed all that pow down a couple slightly steeper slopes. Would have been a hazard to manage carefully somewhere more consequential.
Change is coming tonight!
AvCan Vancouver Island,
Tuesday 11th March, 2025 1:00PM
Island Alpine Guides Washington Backcountry
40cm ski penetration above 1300m becomes 15-20cm below that elevation were the rate of settlement likely was just about as fast as the rate of accumulation at times. No results from hand shears or ski cutting on steep convexities. Signs of natural slab avalanches during the storm on lee slopes to size 1.5. Some sluffing in steep terrain. Snow surface becoming moist when sun came out and at lower elevations.
Island Alpine Guides accesses the Mount Washington Backcountry under an agreement with the landowner.
info,
Tuesday 11th March, 2025 12:00PM
2 gals who don't break trail, break trail
Our duo was hopeful for mellow slopes after the recent weekend snow storm. Unfortunately, the slopes of Becher were so mellow that we couldn't actually ski downhill that well because of the significantly heavy, wet snow.
It was a true grind to break trail for the 6km trek up. We needed skins for some of the downhill too, uh oh!
We observed no signs of instability, but that doesn't mean they aren't out there. Approx 20cm++ of new, heavy snow sitting on well-adhered icy layers underneath. Our skis did not cut down to the ice layer while skinning or skiing. Probe measured over 300cm at the Becher peak. Temperature +1 all day. No wind for us, but noticed a very small wind slab at the peak, which is typical for Becher.
This would have been a lovely snowshoe day, or perhaps if someone else could break trail!!
ally.r.mclean,
Tuesday 11th March, 2025 9:30AM
Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs.
Published: Mar 10th, 2025Slayedrian
Banger of a day up at Beadnell aka Adrian! We staged at 2km on the Eden Main, suffered the thousands of woops to the chute access point, and made it up without drama. The 70-100 cm we found in the 'up top' zone is heavily tracked but a few large features were left alone. Probably a good thing. We suspect the size 2 storm slab we saw in the top lake bowl was remote triggered by a sled track yesterday. Lucky no one was caught!
We dug 3 profiles in the area of the avalanche, which ran on the March 4 crust. Results were in the hard range with stubborn fractures in an 80 cm-deep layer of wind slab (fat spot) and on the 50 cm-deep crust (thin spot). The crust was up to 120 cm deep in immediate lees.
A slit in the clouds gave us a 30 minute window to shred up the plateau, which was all-time. A couple others made it up afterward. Should still be some left!
AvCan Vancouver Island,
Monday 10th March, 2025 1:00PM
Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs.
Published: Mar 9th, 2025TW38
tyler_wonnacott,
Sunday 9th March, 2025 4:00PM
AST 1 Mt. Washington West Ridge/mine site
Observations between 1000 m 1450 m.
Temperature range -2+2.
Foot penetration ski penetration 10 to 60 cm.
Morning snow gave way to breaking in the afternoon the rest of the squall came through and gave us a snow shower and some winds followed by a switch to outflow winds after 3 PM.
Isolated storm slabs were observed failing and steep unsupported training around 1500 m.
Little or no wind affect observed.
In the afternoon rising temperatures caused widespread loose wet/dry cycle multiple size ones on many aspects.
Snowpacked testing produced little results other than surface sloughing.
Heavy laden snow on trees remained with only five or 10% shedding on solar aspect below 1400 m.
A slight temperature crust formed in the afternoon and some wind effect with thin windslabs forming.
Watch for winds as the week continues as there’s lots of pretty dry snow available to be transported.
ams,
Sunday 9th March, 2025 1:00PM
5040 -day 3
Approximately 30cm of snow accumulation Saturday night into Sunday.
Significant evidence of natural avalanches occurring on steep slopes on Saturday.
Slow level about 800m
rachael.ince,
Sunday 9th March, 2025 12:00AM
Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs.
Published: Mar 8th, 20255040 - day 2
Snow turned to rain approximately 9am Saturday.
Heavy rain and SE.
Water penetration 30cm +
Freezing level dropped and wind direction changed (W or SW) ~7pm.
rachael.ince,
Saturday 8th March, 2025 12:00AM
Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Mar 7th, 2025Island pow
1st of three days at the 5040 hut.
Approximately 30cm of fresh snow throughout the day. Significiant wind loading on Northerly slopes.
Poor visibility, but no obvious signs of instability.
Rode low to moderate angle terrain.
rachael.ince,
Friday 7th March, 2025 7:00AM
Avalanche Forecast
Published: Mar 6th, 2025Castlecraig escapade
A gorgeous springlike day for a walk in the park. We parked the truck near the 13 km mark at the far end of the cutblock. It was easy travel by snowmobile with up to 10 cm of dry snow sitting on top of the early March crust. Just watch you don't break through when you are down low, it drives like bottomless isothermal shmoo that would love to swallow your snowmobile. The skin track up was pretty quick and easy as long as you keep away from steep solar aspects. While there is not enough snow to make a loose wet avalanche problem, there is just enough to make getting an edge in quite difficult. We were pleasantly surprised to find some dry powder still prevailing on North aspects and in shaded areas, however we suspect they are not long for this world with the +3.5 degree temperature we had at 1650 m. Great but variable skiing on the way down, watch for the firm snow in the rain runnels.
AvCan Vancouver Island,
Thursday 6th March, 2025 1:00PM
Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Mar 5th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 4th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 3rd, 2025Tall Tales in the Prince of Wales
Skied at Cain over the weekend and H’Kusam on Monday.
Sat/Sun at Cain:
Saturday’s afternoon rain changed to snow overnight. 10cm of wet snow fell above 1350m. Sunday’s warm temps triggered natural slides (sz 1) on all aspects in the N, W and E bowls. These ran on the firm crust underneath for varying lengths. See image for example. By mid afternoon Sunday most alpine slopes had slid and anything that didn’t was very sloppy and wet.
Monday at H’Kusam:
Pleasantly surprised to find dry snow on N facing terrain above 1400m. Anything exposed to Sunday’s sun had a ski breakable 1cm crust. Evidence of sz 1 slides from Sunday similar to what was seen at Cain but to a lesser extent. See image for example.
sportnewk,
Monday 3rd March, 2025 12:00PM
Big interior
Lots of evidence of recent slab avalanches and point releases. Firm and crusty conditions for our day above tree line - with a bit of fresh snow for a few nice turns. Some wet slides on steep S-aspects
stefangessinger,
Sunday 2nd March, 2025 6:00PM
Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Loose Wet, Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 2nd, 2025Mt Apps second (false) summit
Just a general MIN from touring up to Mt Apps today. We opted to ski home from the false summit, rather than continue to the Beaufort trail side and bowl. Were hoping the sun would burn off the high cloud but it was persistent cloud/fog and not the greatest light/visibility.
Snow pack was very stable and the turns were fun; wet/heavy-ish snow, very crispy rounds, but not ice or crust yet with the day temperatures being warm. No wind, very pleasant.
Moderately slippy on some of the steeper up-turns/kick-turns to gain the upper ridge to the false summit.
Fast and zippy descent, many snowshoers out and about enjoying the hike as well.
Splitboarder,
Sunday 2nd March, 2025 12:00PM
Elk
Went for a walk in the Elk Mountain zone today. Drove to 4km on Elk Main and skinned up from there.
Patchy snow until 750 m elevation. Snow quality gradually improved as we climbed to 1350 m. We observed a size 1 natural avalanche on the N aspect in addition to some wet slabbing and pinwheeling on the road cutbank. No signs of instability otherwise.
Probed 220cm at 1350m. The snow was rain saturated until we hit the January crust ~60 cm down.
Enjoyed some spring-like turns through the cut blocks. Coverage became pretty spotty below 900m. Finished the day off with an obligatory Island bushwhack and road ski.
Overall a nice day with fast travel conditions.
etheim,
Sunday 2nd March, 2025 9:00AM
Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Loose Wet, Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 1st, 2025Beadnell beauty
It was up to Mount Beadnell area today for a ski lap on what we are affectionately calling “Lakeview Ridge” above Beadnell lake. Our day started with pounding up the icy whoops, then around the lake it smoothed out, however the melt freeze crust on the surface became intermittently breakable. As we toured up the ridge we found that this crust was 1 to 5 cm thick and travel was pretty fast. The surface crust extends all the way into the alpine. On the way back down we found that solar aspects had become perfect corn skiing, and below 1100 m was back to melty isothermal snow. All in all a beautiful day above the clouds.
AvCan Vancouver Island,
Friday 28th February, 2025 11:00AM
Mashlee Potatoes
Today we made our first attempt at skiing on Mt Matchlee, setting our sights on Quatchka Peak. We were able to drive up to 700 m by truck. Then switched to snowmobiles until logging roads ended at just over 1000 m. After some sporty bush wacking and boot packing, we followed the ridge up to 1350 m, turning around there.
The day was moist with dense fog blocking us from beautiful alpine vistas. A wee bit of scotch mist had soaked us to our base layers not long after leaving the truck. Air temp was 5° at 1 pm and winds were calm. Travel was slow on the slushy snow surface. Skiing was sticky. We noted lots of old avalanche debris from a cycle last weekend. We will be back for another attempt Matchlee!
AvCan Vancouver Island,
Thursday 27th February, 2025 1:00PM
Cloudy Cameron
We headed to the Beauforts today to check on all the new snow that fell overnight, and to see if any of our persistent slab had survived all that rain. We found the snow line has now been pushed up to 800 m, with patchy coverage on the road making it not great for sledding or driving. By 1300 m there was 25 cm of new storm snow sitting on top of the very wet snow from over the weekend. Travel was easy going on this new moist snow. At the top, around 1500 m, we found a similar depth of storm snow. When we dug down we found that the facets, which are 100 to 150 cm deep, are rounding and the snowpack is generally healed.
There was lots of evidence of a natural cycle of avalanches that occurred over the weekend, some of them were large. The wind is already doing its work on the ridge tops forming crusts. Most of this new snow is too heavy and wet to be moved around.
AvCan Vancouver Island,
Tuesday 25th February, 2025 11:00AM
The SuperSoaker Five Thousand and Forty
Summary of conditions at 5040 peak 22-24 Feb:
Ascended 22 Feb in torrential downpour. Snowpack (and us) soaked from valley bottom to summit. Strong winds from the SW. Many natural sz 1 slides on step slopes appeared to have occurred the night prior when the snow transitioned to rain around Cobalt Lake.
23 Feb saw continuing rains but at a much reduced rate. Rains let up around noon. Heavy wet snow / rain started up at 4pm and into the night. ~10cm of wet snow by the morning of the 24th. Strong to extreme winds from the SW on ridge tops.
Skier supportive crust above 1300m. Sloppy coastal oatmeal below on the 24th. Strong to extreme winds from the SW on ridge tops. Heavy snowfall began at 1pm mixed with rain.
Water pooling atop lake ice (see triple peak lake image) and many open creeks below 1200m.
sportnewk,
Monday 24th February, 2025 3:00PM
Biblical Breeze at Cain
It was a wee gusty today in the backcountry near Mt Cain. Below 1300 m it was raining and the snow surface was wet. Above this elevation, 10 cm of heavy new snow has fallen on a newly buried crust. On the windward side this new snow has been swept away by extreme south winds and scoured down to the crust. On lee aspects, up to 30 cm of stiff wind redistributed snow can be found.
We remotely triggered a size 2 wind slab while poking around at ridge crest in West bowl. 1550 m elevation, NW aspect, 30 cm crown, 30 m wide, 35°, ran mid path on an old surface.
The persistent slab problem is still on our minds, it can be found ~50 cm below the surface. We were able to produce hard sudden results in snowpack tests.
Skiing was challenging due to changing surface conditions and poor vis.
AvCan Vancouver Island,
Friday 21st February, 2025 11:30AM
Riders between the storms
Quick check on the rapidly evolving Island snowpack at Mt Beadnell today. After a couple thousand woops and heavy, uninspiring snow in the cutblocks, we made our way up the chute in probably the easiest conditions you can ask for for that move.
Up top we saw a few fresh natural storm slab releases limited to 20 or 30 cm of our most recent snow, up to size 1. The new snow wasn't reacting much in snowpack tests anymore, but we did see a lot of new wind slabs around - part of what steered us away from the steeper stuff.
The other part of the snowpack still giving us pause is the combo of weak layers about 40 cm deep. These gave us another set of concerning test results, most notably two ECTV results on the surface hoar down 35 cm. The Feb 18 crust was only 1 cm thick at this elevation. While it's certainly limiting avalanche potential on the weak layers below, triggering them still appears possible. It would be an even bigger concern in higher alpine locations.
By early afternoon we were in 0 degree temperatures and snow was becoming moist, especially below about 1400m. Let's hope it helps to bridge the layers below as it cools off and firms up.
More snow on the way!
AvCan Vancouver Island,
Thursday 20th February, 2025 1:00PM
JRoper
Passing on a walk up to Boston Falls on account of the soggy weather, my partner and I went for a stroll to see the ice at Switchback on Mt Washington in all the wind and snow.
On the approach I observed an open isolated feature that sent a .5 wet slide about 30m. There was a second one on the same NE aspect bit further down. Very heavy snow that was balling underfoot, and flat light made the walk sporty in all the micro terrain.
The wet slab failed on a crust 40cm down that had two distinct layers of 20cm each, the two most recent storms.
Wind affect, MFcr, transport, ice pellets, fog very high winds, punchy snow, activity, and even a large woomph down by the road on the way out, this day had it all.
Of note, CVSAR will be in here Feb 20 practicing rescue drills. ⛑️
mraugust50,
Wednesday 19th February, 2025 10:00AM
Mount Drabble
Crown 30 feet wide by 1.5 feet deep.
Ran 30 feet into small trees
Released over crust layer
Sorry, no pics or exact location.
Upper subalpine. North facing. Snow load.
Joel Cuttiford,
Monday 17th February, 2025 3:00PM