White Pass West
Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 28th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 27th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 26th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 25th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 24th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 24th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 23rd, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 22nd, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 21st, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 20th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 19th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 18th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 17th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 16th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 15th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 14th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 13th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 12th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 11th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 10th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 9th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs, Storm Slabs.
Published: Mar 8th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 7th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 6th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 6th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 6th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs.
Published: Mar 5th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 4th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 3rd, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 2nd, 2025Fraser/Bryant Lake Area
<p>We rode nice corn in the Fraser Chutes yesterday. Fun times. The riding quality was excellent, but the snowpack is definitely thinning out.
The south-facing aspects of Fraser Ridge are almost totally baked out and have had some huge wet slides recently. The slopes to the looker's right of the south couloir, heading back toward the chutes, hadn't slid by end of day yesterday and were still holding a lot of snow, so we didn't expose our group to them.
Big Kahuna has also had several sizable recent slides and the whole face was littered with debris (it looked worse in person than the attached pics suggest). We also came across some bear tracks, so be mindful out there!
The pics should give a sense of the state of the zone. </p>
Alonzo Butler,
Sunday 7th May, 2023 1:20PM
Fraser Lake
<p>Day skinning up Fraser Lake Rd. Skied a slightly steeper line above the lake off of Fraser Peak ridge.
New snow on the way up ranged from 1-7cm. Wet, no Icy crust under new snow I n most spots, but supportive.
Skied a gully with a NE aspect at 1170m elevation, highest point I skied today. Gully was very wind loaded, up to 15cm in the gut. Snow was consolidated and had formed a somewhat firm wind slab but not quite cohesive enough to be reactive. No cracking or collapsing. I'd believe that higher up slabs are firm enough to be reactive. Saw continued modest snow transport as we skinned up. Consistent breeze all day, especially windy at top of gully on the ridge. </p>
jasonhabib73,
Tuesday 25th April, 2023 5:20PM
Fraser Peak/Big Kahuna
<p>Great day going up Fraser Peak and skiing the big kahuna. Visibility was very mixed, with some sun in the morning, mix overcast and fog until 1, then lifting for decent vis after that.
We were surprised by how warm it was. Well above zero at the car, and around zero above 1500m'ish. Some snowflakes, but mostly no precipitation and light winds.
Skinning up Fraser was on very wet, crusty/hard snow that was at times icy. We encountered a decent whumpf on the way up, near a thin, rocky area, but everything else was pretty welded together.
Snow in the big kahuna was great! Decent powder high up, and heavy powder lower down but still good snow (right down to Bryant lake). We found a big wind slab on skier's right halfway down that whumpf'ed and had a propagating crack that went around the skier. Staying to the center of the run seem to yield much more consolidated snow.
Still lots of great skiing to be had!</p>
olivier.clements,
Sunday 23rd April, 2023 5:50PM
Widespread wet loose activity
<p>At the top of Summit Creek above glaciers you can see lots of debris, evidence of extensive wet loose activity up to sz 1.5 in the last couple days. Friday night was a hard refreeze but it got warm really warm previous afternoons in the alpine. Solar aspects have run wet loose and the steepest rocky ridges that have been rimed all winter are showing bare rock. Sunny morning, then light N wind and clouded over with flat light in the afternoon. Freezing level around 1500m. 5 C at highway level at 4pm.</p>
jeni.rudisill,
Sunday 23rd April, 2023 10:00AM
Taiya Glacier Tour
<p>After sledding across Bryant Lake to the notch, we climbed up onto Taiya Glacier. North winds have affected the snow in some areas, but overall snow quality above 1400 m remains very good. Boot deep powder and sunny skies made for an epic last run for the 2022/2023 field season. There are wet point release slides from rock features on all aspects below 1400 m. We had an early start and finish to accommodate the spring conditions and rising afternoon temperatures. Thanks for a great season!</p>
Yukon Field Team,
Friday 21st April, 2023 4:00PM
Kahuna
<p>Found some space in the kahuna today to make tracks. Good conditions. When we went around the corner for run 2 we saw a slide from yesterday. See pic. </p>
milnercm,
Sunday 16th April, 2023 6:30PM
Quiet big kahuna powder laps
<p>errific skiing at Fraser Peak, big kahuna! Measured 34cms of storm snow over previous wind crust that fell over the past week. No wind slab. Light was in and out but good enough that we went back up for a second lap. Access via east ridge was 20cms of new snow over supportive crust. No signs of instability were seen or felt on our day but we did see point releases on rocky sun exposed south facing and east facing areas that likely released during solar affect on previous days. Cloud cover kept solar radiation to a minimum. Minus 4 when we left the car and plus 4 when we arrived made for some corn skiing for the exit run.</p>
koenig.verena1984,
Saturday 8th April, 2023 9:40PM
New snow and warm temps... but couldn't see
<p>A short tour up summit knob, on the hunt for some soft snow and some definition! It was -1 at the highway mid day and clouds came all the way down to about 1200m. We toured up walking from rock to rock in very flat light and made it up to 1200m. The new snow on the surface ranged from 3 cm to 10 cm and was heavy but it is improving riding conditions by sticking to old hard surfaces. Skiing was fast and relatively consistent given the heavy surface snow.
Winds were light and though we were thinking about windslabs heading out this morning we saw no evidence of them on our short tour.
Temps are back up to +1 at the highway by 4 PM.
</p>
Yukon Field Team,
Wednesday 5th April, 2023 4:40PM
Taiya North Ridge
<p>Attempt on Taiya Peak, aborted due to high winds and rapid wind slab development. See Avalanche report.
</p>
wallan,
Sunday 2nd April, 2023 9:30PM
Kahuna via east ridge & Bryant couloir via the west
<p>After an extended period of improving stability and little new snow we felt happy stepping into steeper, more committing ski lines today. With clouds and flurries forecast in the afternoon we got an early start up the east ridge of Fraser Peak. Air temperatures remained cold but solar input was strong and hard surfaces on east and south facing slopes were gradually softening throughout the morning. We used ski crampons to cross some steeper solar slopes before booting to the peak. The 'Big Kahuna' on Fraser's north face had a few cm of wind blown new snow overlying a variety of hard surfaces - with some manageable sloughing in the steep entrance and mid-slope convexity - soft turns in places & semi-consistent, leg-burning but enjoyable skiing to valley floor. Once back on the lake we decided to complete a horseshoe tour and investigate solar aspects off the high ridge that runs along the north side of Bryant Lake. Surfaces on solar aspects were still hard climbing up and ski crampons were nice-to-have. The weather arrived right on cue just in time for us to scrape our way down the day's 2nd couloir in fairly challenging ski conditions and rapidly deteriorating light. The east face of Fraser was on its way to softening up in the morning, but that corn harvest will have to wait until we get warmer weather.</p>
drew.lyness,
Sunday 2nd April, 2023 8:40PM
Crusty chutes
<p>We did a few laps on Fraser on this very warm sunny saturday. We noticed we could punch through the crust with our poles to a weak layer about 8 cm underneath the frozen crust but did not note any whumfing or shooting cracks. We did not see any overhead avalanche activity. The crust softened up for decent skiing by the afternoon. Goggle tans and fun were had by all. </p>
Megan Bee,
Saturday 1st April, 2023 7:30PM
new snow in the alpine
<p>There was only a trace of new snow at the highway level overnight but we found 10 cm of fresh light powder up in the alpine this morning. We sledded up and around the big flat glacier above Summit Creek. We saw some small dry loose sluff running out of steep terrain, nothing larger than size 1, with little wind, we haven't seen any evidence of windslab development yet. Even though avalanche danger is low today, we kept up good habits and regrouped in safe zones and always spotted each other when tackling steeper slopes. (PS: We found your shovels!)</p>
Yukon Field Team,
Friday 31st March, 2023 12:40PM
Avalanche Danger LOW, UV Index HIGH
<p>We used sleds to access to the north side of Taiya to complete a loop ski tour. We skinned up onto the glacier and gained the col at 1900 m to drop into the Summit Creek side down the wide Little Chamonoix gully run off of Taiya. Snow on the south aspects was crusty from previous wind and sun, but skiiable. We saw old debris from previous wet loose slides out of the rocks in high alpine terrain and at least one of these slides had pulled out a thin windslab size 1.5. But today we saw no new avalanches and stability felt good enough for us to step out into some steeper terrain. Travel was fast, visibility was excellent. The sun was out all day, but alpine temps stayed just below zero and snow stayed dry. </p>
Yukon Field Team,
Wednesday 29th March, 2023 5:20PM
Small windslab release
<p>South aspect skiing in Taiya. North Wind did some work to snow on lee aspects.
Wide variety of surfaces ranging from drifted lips 6inches high to crust to dry powder in wind deposited sheltered areas.
</p>
MikeBrady,
Monday 27th March, 2023 11:10AM
Log Cabin North
<p>Skied nice soft snow along the north side of log cabin. Some crusty pockets increasing in frequency towards the bottom. Wind picked up around 3 pm, along with some flurries. No sign of active wind slab. Crust was supportive. </p>
jakekitchen.52,
Saturday 25th March, 2023 5:30PM
Fun Line in the Sunshine
<p>The clouds got hung up in the pass today leaving clear blue skies in the Fraser area. We set out early and toured to the upper alpine in the morning. Light winds weren’t blowing much snow but we did see one wind slab avalanche triggered by a small cornice right below the ridge crest. The strong sun had us wishing we had brought sunscreen and kept us conscious of how the southerly slopes we planned to ski might be heating up. We dropped in early afternoon and enjoyed velvet skiing before things got too wet. On our way back to Whitehorse we saw lots of roller balls and loose wet avalanches on sunny slopes at lower elevations. The spring sun is definitely having an impact in the afternoon and we will be keeping this in mind moving forward. </p>
Yukon Field Team,
Friday 24th March, 2023 5:30PM
Thick and juicy
<p>Rode Helsian Glades today. Didn't go up too high as the higher we went the crustier the snow. We noticed a few wind slabs on our way up. Stuck to mellow slopes and open trees. Very heavy snow. Warm weather mix of sun and cloud.</p>
Erin Holm,
Sunday 19th March, 2023 5:10PM
Through the storm in White Pass
James Minifie,
Sunday 19th March, 2023 9:30AM
Shreddy Some Heavy Pow
<p>Played around Fraser Chutes today, super heavy storm snow, bunch of natural avalanches on the way in (hwy actively being bombed near Skagway). Fraser camp temps above 2C at 1400 hours. Due to loading, temps, and previous wind scouring kept it super mellow (below 25 degrees slope angle up and down). Good fitness lap but unable to commit to terrain that would support good skiing due to conditions. Even with mellow slopes was feeling the lack of bonding of new snow over windslab/sastrugi, I'd be wary in steeper terrain with any form of consequence. Great tanning conditions, but a recipe to end a day in disaster, Mother Nature hates rapid change! Please keep this in mind as the weekend approaches!</p>
lvanderhoef45,
Friday 17th March, 2023 6:30PM
Deep snow.
<p>A lot of snow has fallen in the last 24 hours. We spent most of the day playing on sleds in the flat meadows but did poke into lower Fraser Chutes for a tour in well supported and safe terrain. The south wind was blowing later in the day and starting to move the copious amounts of snow around. </p>
milnercm,
Thursday 16th March, 2023 7:30PM
Old wind hardened snow surfaces
<p>Before the arrival of the incoming storm we travelled by sled to check on snowpack structure above Fraser this morning, past Bryant Lake up to the Notch. Snow surfaces are firm, with sastrugi and wind pressed snow throughout the drainage. We dug in two different aspects and found snow depth varied between 160 cm and 220 cm at roughly 1400 m elevation with generally firm snow (1 finger stiffness) in the top 20cm, then increasingly hard snow below that with two buried weak layers (facetted snow around old crusts) down around 60 cm and 80 cm deep. The mid pack is generally pencil hard, dense and blocky. The bottom 1/3 of the snowpack is loose and sugary and weak. Temps were -10 C in the alpine and clouds were starting to roll in with light snow just beginning around noon. This is a significant storm arriving tonight so expect avalanche danger will rise with a big load on this snowpack.</p>
Yukon Field Team,
Wednesday 15th March, 2023 6:00PM
Soft sastrugi on hard slabs with a side of powder
<p>We found surprisingly decent sled skiing on gladed south slopes up Summit Creek around 1100m. The sled access from the highway along the east side of the canyon is sporty but approachable now, side hilling was tricky in a few spots where we broke thru hard slabs over facets on the approach.
In the shelter of the trees foot pen was 20 cm, there was some nice pockets of preserved powder. Probing the snow pack was 160 cm deep and the Jan 25 melt freeze crust was down 60 cm here.
We rode mellow sunny slopes less than 30 degrees and it was fun for kids of all ages! Weather was -14 C at 2pm with broken skies and moderate NE winds in the alpine.</p>
jeni.rudisill,
Monday 13th March, 2023 7:10PM
Sheltered powder
<p>We skied the east aspect of log cabin. It is heavily wind affected at 1200m and higher with wind slabs mostly everywhere. We stayed within tree line where we find some good pockets of powder. We did not notice any signs of instability when cutting a few 30 cm² x 1m blocks with a ski pole on a variety of slope angle between 30 and 35 degrees. I was even surprised at the amount of force required to get them to move. Up to tree line, foot penetration was 20cm on average. Temperatures at the highway warmed from -25 at 1045 to -11 at 1600
On the drive we did notice a multiple areas that had recent (1-2 days) point release</p>
Tim Lamoureux,
Sunday 12th March, 2023 6:50PM
Sheltered powder
<p>We skied the east aspect of log cabin. It is heavily wind affected at 1200m and higher with wind slabs mostly everywhere. We stayed within tree line where we find some good pockets of powder. We did not notice any signs of instability when cutting a few 30 cm² x 1m blocks with a ski pole on a variety of slope angle between 30 and 35 degrees. I was even surprised at the amount of force required to get them to move. Up to tree line, foot penetration was 20cm on average. Temperatures at the highway warmed from -25 at 1045 to -11 at 1600
On the drive we did notice a multiple areas that had recent (1-2 days) point release</p>
Tim Lamoureux,
Sunday 12th March, 2023 6:50PM
Summit creek & International falls area
<p>We went to the Summit creek and International falls area. It was super windy (40-60km/h wind gusts coming from north) so we did a snow profile on south-east facing slope.
Total snow pack was 200cm, that broke off after 5x full arm shovel swings. The failure point was facet layer at 135cm. The snow was hard and withstood the 1 finger, 4 finger and fist test. Snow was crusty and the area was very wind blown with few deeper more powdery spots lower in the valley.
We saw a few older smaller slab avalanches on south facing slopes.</p>
Mon.,
Sunday 12th March, 2023 11:40AM
First ascent of Andromeda Strain, first time in Fraser gravel pit
<p>A few Yukon U students started their avalanche education journey this week with a huge figure of Canadian alpinism, who was visiting White Pass for the first time from Canmore, AB. After a windy scenic drive down the South Klondike we set up in the Fraser area for a rigorous morning of companion rescue practice. We observed moderate to strong northerly winds at ridgetop transporting significant snow off Fraser ridge and depositing it on SE aspects all morning - and at times possibly sublimating rather than actively loading immediate lee features. Skies were blue and temps hovered around -10 in the morning at roadside.
The wind dropped in the pm and our study site on a solar aspect warmed to an air temp of -5 C - not only unexpected but we started to see some solar input on surface snow quite quickly as the Yukon moves gradually into spring.
HS was 150 in our study plot in a relatively shallow snowpack in sheltered, low elevation, low angle, treeline terrain near the bottom of the Fraser chutes. We found 40cm of fist density snow overlying nearly 50cm of 4f+ slab on top of a decomposing facet / sh layer, on top of a pencil-hard crust. Beneath the crust was sugar snow to the ground. A CT yielded hard (24) but planar results on the basal facets with an additional irregular break in the slab above the crust.
Backed up by the Av Can team & Yukon heli's aerial pictures of large na avalanches in the alpine, we concluded that our region still has a persistent problem that should be well-minded as we transition into spring conditions and the snowpack continues to adjust. </p>
drew.lyness,
Tuesday 7th March, 2023 9:30PM
ACC BIT Field Day
<p>First field day for ACC Backcountry Intro to Touring program.
Headed up to Fraser Lake to discuss terrain, dug a pit on a small slope in the gulch, and did some beacon practice in the gravel pit. Winds were fairly strong all day.
Witnessed a sled trigger a size 1 wind slab on one of the small SW gulch slopes. Good real life demonstration. Also observed older, partially covered debris in many spots on the south aspects of the gulch.
Snowpack was 200-220cm where we dug a pit. SE aspect, ~1000m, ~25deg. Got 3 results on an ECT. Thin, surface wind slab (~10cm?) propagated upon cutting the column. Then non-propagating, non-planar results on what seemed like the new snow interface below and another on the crust below that. Can't remember the exact number of taps for each, was a demonstration of layers, not an instability analysis.</p>
John S,
Saturday 4th March, 2023 9:10PM
Deep sleddin'
<p>The winds switched out of the north this morning and temperatures held steady around -10 C with skies clearing throughout the day. Sled conditions were deep above Fraser with 45 cm of storm snow over hard wind effected surfaces. We could see snow moving at ridge tops and actively loading south aspects, and we observed some debris from natural avalanches earlier in the week out of steep terrain. We probed 230 cm at 1200 m and found the crust 1 m down. Very fun riding out there in soft snow...for now.
</p>
Yukon Field Team,
Friday 3rd March, 2023 4:00PM
“Should’ve brought the fat skis”
Yukon Field Team,
Thursday 2nd March, 2023 5:10PM
Avalanche report
Matt,
Tuesday 28th February, 2023 3:30PM
soft sastrugi and wind slabs
<p>The wind has been at work in White Pass. We watched it switch from northerly outflows to a south wind today. The day started out cold at -25 C and warmed very slowly. On slopes above Fraser towards the notch we found evidence of recent avalanche cycle. South and southeast aspects got loaded with the strong north wind over the past 48 hours and there is debris from a few size 1.5 natural avalanches running from ridges to midslope. As well, with the incoming storm the south wind was strong by mid-afternoon at ridge and triggering dry loose sluffs to size 1.5 in steep, confined, terrain on norths. Surprisingly enough, there is still snow available for transport. We sledded on soft sastrugi and found a few small pockets of powder in sheltered areas.</p>
Yukon Field Team,
Tuesday 28th February, 2023 3:00PM
Calm Chutes
<p>Variety of snow surfaces in Fraser chutes today. Everything from buckle deep pow to dust on crust to breakable crust. Dug a pit at 1200m and observed the freeze thaw crust around 80cm deep, total depth in that specific area only amounted to ~135cm. </p>
brianhyde,
Friday 24th February, 2023 6:40PM
Good skiing on south faces
Eirik Sharp,
Wednesday 22nd February, 2023 7:45PM
Log Cabin
<p>We were interested in comparing snow stability between today and last weekend. The wind has had a significant effect at many elevations including the upper treed part of Log Cabin's cutline. We were not interested in the East aspect because of how compacted/scoured the snow had become due to the wind. Some areas on the NNE aspect between 1050m and 1200m had barely 15cm of snow of wind compacted snow while others were 140cm+ (full pole lenght). There were a lot of ribs (deposits of snow from cross loading). The wind just above tree line was nil to light South in the afternoon. Ski cuts on a variety of small features on E to NNE aspects had no result.
We found some fantastic powder in sheltered areas and amongst the trees on the N aspect. It made for short enjoyable laps.
There were 4 other groups of people out there today. Nice chatting with you and planning how we all want to use the territory slopes, especially with the potential for remote triggers.</p>
Tim Lamoureux,
Sunday 19th February, 2023 10:10PM
Pow pow pow
<p>Great day of riding with lots of fresh snow at the chutes. </p>
Erin Holm,
Sunday 19th February, 2023 7:10PM
Sunday funday
<p>There were power flurries driving between Whitehorse and White pass, but snow eased off once we were out at Fraser. Broken skies, light south winds. It was socked in south of Fraser. We played in mellow terrain in deep powder and stayed in Treeline terrain. We found 100 cm snow out on Fantail flats, powder on top and the bottom half of it is facets. There is lots of overflow out that way on the lakes. Up above Fraser we found much deeper snow and 40 cm powder that was bit heavy and upside down from wind and warm temps. Zero degrees at the highway at 4 pm at end of day. Vis limited alpine observations but we saw lots of slope testing going on up to the top of Fraser chutes and no recent avalanche activity. </p>
jeni.rudisill,
Sunday 19th February, 2023 5:00PM
short laps in the chutes
<p>Today we traveled in the far lookers right chute of fraser chutes, we were surprised mostly by the depth of new windslabs, which in crossloaded tree line areas was about 120cm deep and still very soft (you could easily push your pole into it with the basket facing down).
We avoided anything that looked very thick or pillowed, and opted for well supported gully centres that had more sheltered snow for skiing.
We also felt the wind blowing from almost every direction today which is a change from the last few days of consistent southwest wind.</p>
Yukon Field Team,
Friday 17th February, 2023 12:10PM
Light snow and flat light
<p>A slow steady storm is tracking through White Pass, light snow gave us 7cm in last 24hrs and the wind eased right off today. Visibility was poor in the alpine, the flat light limited travel. We sledded above Fraser / Bryant Lake zone and found great riding everywhere we could see. We probed around at 1250 m on a SE aspect and average snow depth was 240 cm. In this area we had moderate sudden planar compression test results on a storm snow interface down 40 cm. The crust that formed January 25 is now buried 60 cm in this sheltered treeline area. We really couldn't see much ridgetop or alpine terrain today. We also did a ski lap in Fraser chutes avoiding larger wind-loaded features given the moderate SW winds that moved snow around yesterday. The surface snow today is light and riding is excellent. </p>
Yukon Field Team,
Wednesday 15th February, 2023 4:20PM
ski cutting wind slab
<p>We travelled up to Summit Weather station to get it working again, and found deep trail breaking (60 cm) that became heavy and "upside down" as we entered more wind affected terrain. We used small and low angle terrain to gain the ridge and clean off summit.
On the way down we travelled through some of the steep side walls that drain down to the bryant lake access road, we found easy to trigger windslabs even as low as 1000m. We skied over small test slopes and had an easy time causing small avalanches. We avoided large, steep, convex slopes as we assumed the problem would be there as well.
</p>
Yukon Field Team,
Tuesday 14th February, 2023 4:10PM
Log Cabin powder clouds
ruthobeirne1,
Tuesday 14th February, 2023 11:10AM
Deep chutes/still good
<p>Sunday was good after 15cm from night before, well monday was better after another 10cm reset.
Slight SE wind 10km/hr gusting to 15km/hr late morning, tapered off later in afternoon. Enough to lightly fill skin track in on intermediate chute ridges. On these specific transitional ridges as expected I experienced slightly variable snow and every now and then localized cracking underfoot that didnt propogate at all. Apart from that, snow from 24hr appears to have bonded well with 48hr and 72hr snow/wind pressed snow.
No natural avys to report with clear views of most aspects in area.
East aspect alpine to the south of chutes looked significantly wind affected, with direct Lee slopes appearing loaded. Locally on higher elevations of the chutes the alpine looked textured but was alone so didn't tempt what snow felt like higher than treeline. Ski pen 40-50cm.
It's DEEP out there in protected spots, *ALMOST* makes travel downhill too slow. Bring snorkel.</p>
MikeBrady,
Monday 13th February, 2023 7:50PM
Super powder bowl Sunday
<p>Another Fraser data point: 10cm new overnight on Saturday setting up a windless ski day on Sunday. Ski penetration 40 cm+ at treeline and about 15cm in more wind-exposed alpine areas where the new snow was found to be well bonded to a combination of crusts and hard surfaces at and above 1300m. A short-lived clearing in the morning allowed for a good look around with no signs of any recent avalanche activity on south and north/northeast aspects. +3 at the highway by mid afternoon.</p>
communications,
Monday 13th February, 2023 6:50AM
Log Cabin: Soft but Whumph
<p>Nice visit at Log cabin. Our main objective was to examine the snow while remaining very conservative. We went for the N aspect and reached 1250m. At first glance, the fresh snow was supporting us well for most of the way. We did not notice much of wind effect either in the alpine. However, a few shear tests in 25x25cm holes dug with a pole revealed a snowpack with many different layers and instability. There was some whumfing where we transitioned. Caution is definitely recommended in the alpine.
Snow below tree line was soft and very nice to ride.</p>
Tim Lamoureux,
Sunday 12th February, 2023 10:20PM
Summit Creek Saturday
<p>Checked out Summit Creek Hill looking for some safer terrain with less overhead hazards given the conditions. We triggered a small avalanche from below it while skinning up, so stopped to dig a pit on a 25 degree slope. Weak layer 30cm below the surface collapsed on compression test #14. We skied a couple of laps on mellow slopes and had some great turns in nice, fresh powder!</p>
haylideans,
Saturday 11th February, 2023 7:20PM
Powder chutes
<p>Good day's skiing in the Fraser Chutes. Consistent moderate winds gusting to strong from the South built windslab through the day. Ski quality below 1200m was excellent. Above that elevation surface quickly transitioned to firm, with a breakable crust. The TL gullies were cross-loading impressively through the day, and a Ski cut onto a lee feature triggered an size 1, with a 40-50cm crown height and good propagation. It was a great day to enjoy some short 'mini-golf' ski laps with plenty of deep turns, and leave the alpine for another day...</p>
Steve 'Reidles' Reid,
Saturday 11th February, 2023 4:10PM
Powder Chutes
<p>Skied Fraser Chutes. Nice snow in wind protected areas below exposed alpine. Light to moderate winds from the NE only present in alpine and ridge top. Light snow 2-3cm and not too cold at -4. </p>
Yukon Field Team,
Thursday 9th February, 2023 3:30PM
Turns at Log Cabin
michael,
Sunday 5th February, 2023 7:20PM
Dust on Crust
<p>We went in search of low angle, sheltered, wind filled slopes and kinda sorta found them on the north side of Log Cabin. 5-10cm low density sitting on a crust that was semi supportive/breakable/breaking down. There was quite a bit of wind and it did snow 2-4cm throughout the day but not enough loose snow yet to create wind slabs. There was a few places on lee, wind loaded features where we noted that the bond between the new snow and the old melt/freeze crust from January 24/25th was really not that good. It will be interesting to see how things shape up as additional snow is laid down on top of that crust. Turns were acceptable if you followed your nose to the softer aspects.</p>
jamesminifie,
Sunday 5th February, 2023 4:50PM
Beauty inversion at Fraser Peak
<p>Weather: Started at -20°C car temperature and then hit an inversion at about 1200m and temps changed to t-shirt weather. Winds changed no wind to a light N wind around noon. Sunny above the clouds. Very poor vis on the decent once we hit the clouds.
Snow: at higher elevations, above around 1500m, the new snow is starting to form a slab, that is sitting on surface hoar on the crust. We ski cut a feature on the ridge and caused a sudden planar 15cm down. Ski cuts at lower elevations caused no results other than scratching up my skis on rocks some more.
We took a route around on the south side to avoid the north facing gully.</p>
Stephie Saal,
Saturday 4th February, 2023 8:00PM
Ending the week in familiar terrain
<p>We went for a quick Friday morning sled/ski back into the Bryant/Fraser Chutes area. Temperatures were -10 by the highway and -5 at treeline with no wind and some valley fog. Travel conditions are okay with a few cm of new snow on a breakable crust. Above 1100m the new snow was bonded poorly to the crust which made skinning challenging. Of note, we also observed sugary snow beneath the melt freeze crust at 1200m in Fraser Chutes. This is not an avalanche problem yet, but it is worth keeping an eye on when it gets buried by new snow loads. We were happy today avoiding big slopes, staying on smaller, familiar pieces of terrain and assessing the surface snow before the next storm comes in. </p>
Yukon Field Team,
Friday 3rd February, 2023 1:30PM