West Purcell
Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 28th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Storm Slabs.
Published: Mar 27th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Storm Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Mar 26th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Storm Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Mar 25th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Persistent Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Mar 24th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Persistent Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Mar 23rd, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 22nd, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Wind Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Mar 21st, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Persistent Slabs, Deep Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 20th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Wind Slabs, Deep Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 19th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 18th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 17th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 16th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 15th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 14th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Persistent Slabs, Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 13th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 12th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 12th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 11th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 10th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 9th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 8th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Storm Slabs.
Published: Mar 7th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 6th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 5th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 4th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Wind Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Mar 3rd, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 2nd, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Deep Persistent Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Mar 1st, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Deep Persistent Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Feb 28th, 2025Spilli good times
<p>We spent four days at McMurdo hut from April 18-21. Stormy weather on day one was followed by three days of sun/cloud and convective flurries. 5cms of new snow accumulated over the 4 days with freezing levels around 1900m. We skied steep north glacier and alpine features. Skiing was great with 10-20cms low density snow, unaffected by the wind. We probed 260-300+cm on the Spilli glacier. Below 1900m was a mostly supportive melt freeze crust on all aspects. There was evidence of a wide spread natural cycle in the alpine on all aspects from the previous storm. On day one we ski cut a reactive, size 1.5 storm slab, 10cm deep. This was on a steep, convex slope. The storm slab bonded quickly in the following days and there was no further activity observed. It's still winter up high, skiing is still awesome with fast travel in the valley! </p>
bradley.lorriman,
Friday 21st April, 2023 9:20PM
Spring, but not a spring snowpack.
<p>Spent the last two weeks skiing around Purcell Lodge. Mostly good powder skiing on north aspects and on all aspects right after convective flurries. Some good moist/corn skiing in the afternoon on solar aspects at treeline and below and some breakable crust zig-zag skiing on cooler days or in the morning. Easy travel conditions.
Most days were a mixture of convective flurries and and sun. Warming produced crusts on solar aspects and below 1900m on polar aspects but we never had the big warm up. When the heat did penetrate the polar alpine aspects from the green housing effect, it woke up deep persistent slabs in shallow areas and the storm slab on all aspects ( near surface facets between the April 1 and April 7 melt freeze crusts and facets/surface hoar on Polar aspects on the April 1) .
Not much new avalanche activity over the last 5 days as temperatures were just above freezing in the afternoon with a good overnight freeze. But the next big warm up will likely wake up the deep persistent slab and April 1 storm slabs on all aspects. I dug a few pits and areas were the snowpack is less than 180cm I was sinking in the basal facets at the bottom of the pit.
</p>
wardsbd,
Friday 21st April, 2023 1:30PM
Jumbo
<p>Deep trail breaking with 25-30cm of fairly low density new snow, which made for excellent skiing. Skied mellow slopes and trees. No sign of new avalanche activity in the Jumbo drainage.
Even though we were mostly in the shade the sun sure packs a punch this time of year.</p>
falzs,
Saturday 4th March, 2023 5:00PM
Natural wind slab
staywildbackcountry,
Thursday 16th February, 2023 2:40PM
Silent Pass pow
<p>50 cm of soft snow made for really good riding in wind-sheltered areas. No notable layers or test results in the upper snowpack. Total depths at treeline ranged from 150 to 180 cm, with some softer faceted snow near the ground. There was some blowing snow along ridges, but we didn't see any new avalanches.</p>
forecaster,
Friday 10th February, 2023 7:30PM
Schneemoblock
<p>40 cm of recent snow was starting to settle and feel heavy. Total snow depth at 1900 m was 150 cm. Sled rutschblock got a whole block result on a 50 cm deep facet on crust layer. No new avalanches observed.</p>
forecaster,
Thursday 9th February, 2023 7:50PM
Jumbo ck
<p>Toured up to around 2150m with no cracking or whumpfing. Dug a snowpit at 1960 m and didn't get any alarming results. We didn't find the surface hoar in our location but the November facets were large and easy to see! There was 130 cm where we dug but it seemed to get significantly deeper above that.
Mostly calm, with the odd light gust at our elevation.
No natural avalanches seen but we didn't have great visibility. </p>
forecaster,
Wednesday 1st February, 2023 7:00PM
Forster creek
<p>We headed out with a plan to get up into the alpine but quickly had to change plans. The cold temps and poor vis meant we spent the day sledding in the trees near the warming hut. There was enough soft snow to get it on edge in lee areas, so around 10-15 cm. The wind was moving snow at all elevations, with occasional drifts in the trees and scouring back to old tracks in open areas. Decent riding considering how little snow we've had</p>
forecaster,
Tuesday 31st January, 2023 4:40PM
Dave White
<p>No recent avalanches observed during 3 days around Dave White Hut, but one large older slabs in steep southeast alpine terrain and some small sluffs under sun-exposed cliffs. A mix of surface conditions with sun crusts, wind effect, and fast shallow powder. Probing on Catamount found typical depths of 130 to 160 cm.</p>
shorton,
Sunday 8th January, 2023 5:50PM
Jumbo Cabin
<p>Great skiing at Jumbo the last 3 days and a surprising lack of reactivity where we travelled. We dug profiles on west and east aspects at TL on Jan 3rd (see snowpack tab). Could see some previous natural activity on distant alpine slopes but nothing near the cabin. We mostly skied the east side with lots of smaller features up to 40 degrees in slope but avoided larger/more committing terrain due to uncertainty with the deep/persistent problems. Weather was a mix of sun and clouds with mostly light winds. Alpine was a bit wind affected from previous winds but everything lower was hero snow! </p>
Alex Grierson,
Friday 6th January, 2023 5:40AM
Jumbo
<p>25 cm of low density snow on a rain crust which was 5mm thick at 1700 m and progressively less noticeable higher up. No signs of instability but we stayed mostly on lower angle terrain. Excellent ski quality.</p>
falzs,
Monday 2nd January, 2023 6:40PM
We wish you a McMurdo Christmas
<p>Dec 22-26 ski touring out of McMurdo hut.
Still low coverage BTL but manageable/filling in, bushy and a few open creek holes on the exits.
NW aspects at TL loaded nicely and skied beautifully!
Avoided steeper features where rocks still loom and faceted snowpack means even the more deeply buried ones grab you!
Dug a pit Dec 23 (N aspect ~1900m -17deg) found planar surfaces between faceted midpack (suspected pwls) down ~20cm and 40cm. No significant result on CT or ECT.
Very touchy storm slab Dec 24 (numerous skier remote triggers) but nothing running far on facets. Avoided big convex / unsupported features.
Dec 25 Warm temps (-5 at hut) and a break in the snowfall (saw some sun!), storm slab settled out nicely. Wind slab on specific alpine features, shooting cracks, but again nothing running on facets below.
Dec 26 Warm temps (0deg at 2000m), mod winds and steady snowfall all day, great deep (bottomless) pow laps in the trees.
Huge transformation in conditions over 5 days!
</p>
jaimecatherinesanderson,
Tuesday 27th December, 2022 1:40PM
Current Conditions
[email protected],
Thursday 17th November, 2022 10:00AM