Ymir
Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 28th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Storm Slabs, Cornices.
Published: Mar 27th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Storm Slabs, Cornices.
Published: Mar 26th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Loose Wet, Cornices.
Published: Mar 25th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Loose Wet, Storm Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 24th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 23rd, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 22nd, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Persistent Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Mar 21st, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 20th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 19th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Persistent Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Mar 18th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Persistent Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Mar 17th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Persistent Slabs, Loose Wet.
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.
Published: Mar 13th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 12th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 11th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 10th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 9th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 8th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Mar 7th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Mar 6th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Mar 5th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs, Persistent Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Mar 4th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 3rd, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 2nd, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Mar 1st, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Feb 28th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Loose Wet.
Published: Feb 27th, 2025Acidophilus lap
Good riding in acidophilus, some sluffing in steep cliff areas
ms.g.bonin,
Sunday 7th January, 2024 8:50PM
5 mile - Fingers
The riding was excellent! We saw one tiny slab avalanche in the storm snow, looked like it was skier triggered on Saturday, only ran about 15 meters, somebody skied out the bottom of it. That was on the line of trees that climbs to climber's left above the Fingers, with a rollover below (to climbers left) of the trees. Other than that we saw no signs of instability. Hand shears in the Fingers looked like the storm snow was bonding well, no clean shears or easy releases. Lots of sluffing of storm snow in the Fingers as we were the first skiers in, but no slabs.
robmoote,
Sunday 7th January, 2024 5:20PM
Whitewater Snow Safety
snowsafety,
Sunday 7th January, 2024 12:20PM
0.5 slab triggered by snowboarder
francoisb66,
Saturday 6th January, 2024 5:50PM
Exceeded Expectations (Plus CT Result)
greta,
Saturday 30th December, 2023 9:50PM
Slack powder at Whitewater
No signs of avalanche activities. Snow was wind packed on the ridge towards half dome. Variable snow on the slopes into five mile basin. Powder in the trees further to the bottom of the basin.
Felt like a spring day as it was clear and sunny.
Snow definitely got warmed up mid day and the warming produced tree bombs.
LuJo,
Saturday 30th December, 2023 4:40PM
Crème brûlée Conditions
On a short tour into Prospector Bowl we found a widespread breakable ice crust overlying moist snow. With coverage so thin and ski conditions so challenging I would not recommend backcountry travel in this area. Skiing below 1700m where no crust was present was manageable. No signs of instability were observed.
bexner,
Wednesday 20th December, 2023 3:50PM
White Queen
Dug on a NE aspect at tree line near ridgetop, HS 115. Found the 5cm crust (Dec 6th) down 40cm, and the surface hoar layer (Dec 1st) down 55-60cm. Got ECTP 28 and CTH 22 on the Dec 1st surface hoar 6mm. Its sharky out there. Crust on solars, upper snowpack is getting pretty consolidated everywhere.
TsugaMertensiana,
Sunday 17th December, 2023 5:10PM
Hummingbird pass
SH 47cm. Approx -2°C Really shallow snowpack. Did a quick ct. Sheer break 2 inches down while cutting block. Broke again on 14th hit at ground. Faceted snow at ground level.
shawnawoelke9,
Friday 15th December, 2023 12:20PM
Evening Ridge
Went for a walk Dec 11 up to Evening Ridge. The sun was radiant during the day warming the top 5cm on solar aspects (SE-SW). Which formed a sun crust by later afternoon. On the surface of polar aspects (E-NW) overnight growth of SH (3mm) was found. The height of snow was 85cm at 1700m and up to 120cm at 2100m. Dug a snow profile on an East aspect at 2050m, -2C, at around noon with a snowpack of 115cm. Found the Dec6 rain crust down 45cm and was 5cm thick with the Dec1 surface hoar down 60cm. The surface hoar was still well preserved with an average size of 15mm and getting up to 20mm. I had no results on an extended column test. With compression tests I had moderate broken result down 35cm with a change in snow density. As well had a hard sudden collapse result down 90cm on rounding facets (1-2mm) above the freezing rain crust we had around Nov12. I feel the snowpack is bonding well and Dec 06 rain crust is bridging the upper snowpack and not seeing results on the Dec 01 surface hoar. I will still caution ⚠️ and monitor the Dec 01 surface hoar, it’s still well preserved in the snowpack and large in size. The sudden collapse on the rounded facets is also on the back of my mind. The snowpack has strength but it’s still shallow, finding a weak point on an open slope may produce a significant avalanche. Monitor the Dec 06 rain crust, look for the Dec 01 surface hoar, and keep those weak facet layers near the base of the snowpack in the back of your mind. Early season risks are still out there.
Michael Wigley,
Tuesday 12th December, 2023 10:20AM
Assessment of the damage
Had to assess the damage from the massive deluge of rain. Snowpack depths ranged from 50cm at 1500m to 90-110cm at 1900m.
We had cracking and whumpfing on the way up in open areas above 1750m.
Shockingly the late December surface hoar was undisturbed by the rain.
The majority of the Snowpack except for the top 20cm was moist to the ground.
The early December surface hoar is down 35-40cm.
Kootenay Backcountry Guides,
Thursday 7th December, 2023 5:20PM
Silver king ridge
summitmountainguides,
Wednesday 29th November, 2023 9:38PM
Skier triggered slab avalanche
<p>Sz 2.5 Skier triggered slab avalanche on the E aspect of Ymir peak, initiated from the approach to "the bench". We did not see it occur, but suspect this April 20 am based on talking with other skiers in the area. Wind deposited new snow failed on small facets on old sun crust. Crowns average 40-50cm, 10-30cm at trigger point. 60+ m wide in upper start zone, 100+ m wide below the rollover.
Sa sz 1.5 on NW aspect of Ymir, above Kubas chute entrance. Occured April 19, apparently no involvement. (Second photo)</p>
Dom Baker,
Thursday 20th April, 2023 11:30PM
Evening Ridge
logan.allarie,
Wednesday 22nd March, 2023 11:30AM
Burnin Up and a Glopping Mess
<p>Great day skiing at the burn below Emma Peak today. North and west aspects were skiing good with powder still to be found. Sun crust layers noticeable on southern aspects. Recorded below zero degree conditions until 16:30 roughly. The ski down the slope above Silver King was very sun affected and made for tough skiing conditions and grabby snow. </p>
Jushway,
Friday 17th March, 2023 6:30PM
Stable & Suprisingly good!
<p>We took a quick lap through Five Mile Basin this afternoon and while there's about 2/3 as much snow as we'd normally see here, the riding conditions were great in the wind sifted pow. We had our heads in the snow a bit and really didn't see anything of concern, just a lot of strong snow. The Christmas capping crust is quite evident in the middle of the snowpack, and is probably the saving grace of this zone right now. Watch for fresh wind slabs near ridge crest tomorrow, there was a bit of reverse loading with east wind this afternoon. Conditions are good in the trees and there are some great turns to be had this weekend in sheltered terrain. Huge thanks to Whitewater for hooking me up with a pass for a work day today! 🙏</p>
ghelgeson,
Friday 10th March, 2023 6:50PM
5 Mile
snowsafety,
Tuesday 7th March, 2023 1:10PM
N. Beattie - Evening Ridge
<p>Best conditions were found in areas sheltered from yesterdays sun and the previous wind events.
Two natural avalanches observed, size 1-2,12-24 hrs old on SE asp, between 1700-1900m on open convex slopes. Approx 40cm deep. </p>
bshandro,
Monday 6th March, 2023 8:10AM
Wind Crust Galore
<p>Headed up with the goal of skiing acidophilus. The wind was strong and swirling from the start of our climb and once we made it to the ridge there were gusts that pushed us out of the skin track. We took a peek down into the trees and everything looked wind affected so we decided to just ski back down the tighter trees on the south end of white queen. There was a wind crust varying from ~0.2-3cm everywhere. Definitely a survival ski down, even once we got back into the resort terrain.</p>
lthiesse,
Sunday 5th March, 2023 2:40PM
Sz1.5 Evening Ridge
apeplowball,
Tuesday 28th February, 2023 4:40PM
Pillow land
<p>Surprisingly good ride quality on ESE aspect considering the recent easterly winds. No signs of instabilities, regardless, we stayed away from open snow fields due to recent storm.</p>
patiosurf,
Saturday 25th February, 2023 5:40PM
Evening Ridge
<p>Saw two old point releases from the cross loading on whales back size 0.5-1. Rode south face of evening ridge, boot deep powder, no wind slab. Crust ~20 cms deep. Rode trees, avoided open steep slopes</p>
k.net786,
Wednesday 22nd February, 2023 9:30PM
West of Hummingbird Pass
<p>We skied area west of Hummingbird Pass. 20-30cms new low density snow. We remotely triggered a D2 soft slab on a north facing slope from the ridge top west of Hummingbird Pass and north of the road to Whitewater. Crown was 20-30cms. Lots of settling and shooting cracks on all aspects.. Skier triggered smaller pockets on short steep rolls on NE aspect. Revised tour plans to safely return to the car.</p>
cb_thomas,
Wednesday 22nd February, 2023 7:40AM
White Queen shoulder
<p>We went for a walk up the White Queen ridge via Hummingbird Pass but decided to rip skins well before the top due to deteriorating vis and wind. We turned around roughly halfway between Hummingbird Pass and the summit. We had some nice tree skiing on the way down - deep powder that was producing some storm slab cookies up to about a square meter in places, and some sluffing on a couple steeper pitches. Didn’t observe any other signs of instability. Nice mellow day out!</p>
Taylor Weixl,
Tuesday 21st February, 2023 7:10AM
5 Mile & Goat Slide
<p>Large windslab on 5 mile side. Dug a pit just below the ridge to check reactivity, see snowpack for results.
Line from the ridge skied well with a little bit of sluffing but no other signs of instability.
Took Goat Slide back down into the resort. Quite wind scoured on the top but some fresh lines to be had. Lower section is more tracked than Little Mucker.</p>
bex.dawkes,
Sunday 12th February, 2023 6:10PM
AST-2 Whales Back
<p>Skied whales back. first 200m wind pressed with evidence of drifting snow. Below was great skiing with no signs of instability. Made sure to ski the ridge on whales back. Avoided getting lured into the steeper terrain. See snowpack tab for further obs.</p>
k.net786,
Friday 10th February, 2023 8:50PM
Found Skier Triggered AV
blakespencer,
Friday 10th February, 2023 9:20AM
Found Skier Triggered AV
blakespencer,
Friday 10th February, 2023 9:20AM
Extra caution where storm snow overlies suncrust
<p>Fourth peak/corner pocket</p>
Skier123,
Wednesday 8th February, 2023 3:20PM
Quatetl
<p>S aspect off Ymir skied well to ~1900m where we started feeling the crust, isolated small pockets of storm slab sliding on crust.
Kutetl:
NE burn (BTL) skied perfectly.
One small pocket of wind slab released on crust (E aspect, convex roll). Felt the crust on E aspect.
NW aspect into 5 mile (fingers) loaded in nicely BTL and also skied beautifully (but with a few more tracks!).
</p>
jaimecatherinesanderson,
Sunday 5th February, 2023 7:40PM
AST1 tour
<p>AST1 tour up above hummingbird pass. Confirmed below tree line rating of 1. Fresh 4cm of new snow overnight was light and fluffy. No new signs of avalanche activity. </p>
erik.jason.ross,
Saturday 4th February, 2023 7:50PM
5mile
<p>Cracking wind slabs at higher elevations on West facing unsheltered areas</p>
ian_lamoureux,
Saturday 4th February, 2023 5:30PM
Qua Kutetl Ymir
<p>Skied SW off Ymir into Qua, another SW line off Villi, NE from the saddle into Kutetl, then West into Ymir bowl from Ymir col. Deepest driest pow I found is loaded into SW aspects at TL. NE also skiing well, faster wind pressed pow. Frustrating skinning on steep solars (dry pow sliding on crust). Crust also exposed on some N alpine features, but more breakable/faceting. One small isolated pocket of reactive wind slab but I can’t remember what aspect. Stunning day!</p>
jaimecatherinesanderson,
Thursday 2nd February, 2023 9:10PM
East peak
<p>1930m N asp on East peak, isolated wind slab immediate lee, cracking 2-3m wide 20-30cm deep. Winds light SW with light blowing snow at ridgetop. Fast facet skiing on low angle trees N asp. </p>
wildairphoto,
Thursday 2nd February, 2023 7:00PM
Silver King Ridge
<p>3 laps up to the silver king ridge today. We encountered quite variable conditions - wind slabs, icy crusts under varying amounts of snow and the occasional soft powdery section. We occasionally has small area where windslabs shattered and slid short distances. On our last run we noticed that there were about 6 size 1-2 avalanches that had come down along 5 mile ridge. All appeared naturally triggered. There was quite a bit of direct, warm sun all day. Pictures of 2 below</p>
lthiesse,
Sunday 29th January, 2023 6:00PM
Evening Ridge/Hummingbird
<p>Toured up Evening Ridge around the back through Hummingbird Pass. Skied trees and a few mellow openings towards the bottom. Top 200m and bottom 100m were nice and soft, middle could feel the crust more.</p>
SplityMcBoardface,
Sunday 29th January, 2023 4:20PM
6 days at Ymir
<p>Spent 6 days at Ymir Lodge, flying in January 15th started off forecasting 3-3-2 by day 4, we were forecasting 2-2-2 and skiing most slopes. By day 5, we were skiing 47 degree to 57+ degree slopes avoiding thin to thick. Biggest problems were dry loose problems in the 45+ degree terrain. Saturday Jan 21 we had a small windslab problem on east aspects. We shreaded very steep slopes and ski toured out from Ymir to Whitewater and got 1800m of vertical and 20km of skiing in. Sunrise to sunset in January is a perfect day.</p>
Todd Mansfield,
Saturday 21st January, 2023 8:00PM
Whitewater back country
<p>We had nice turns in the whitewater backcountry. Noted widespread surface hoar to 10mm in size between 1600 and 2250 meters. This is getting buried now and may become our next problem.
We dug a profile at 2070 meters on a south aspect and found repeatable sudden plan results down 40 cm’s on what we assumed was the Jan 3 SH layer. The HS at this location was 220 cm’s. The Dec 26 MFCr was down about a meter, was knife hard and had facets below it.</p>
tenntrent,
Saturday 21st January, 2023 6:50PM
East Peak Evening Ridge - Test Profile
<p>No new avalanches or signs of instability observed.</p>
jonathan.a.c.brooks,
Friday 20th January, 2023 8:30PM
Evening Ridge
bshandro,
Sunday 15th January, 2023 6:50PM
Black Queen
<p>We went for a tour down Black Queen and into the Burn. Decided to dig a pit before dropping into the steeper section of the East aspect on Black Queen. After a sudden planar result on both CT and ECT down 70cm (likely the December 17th surface hoar layer), we decided to opt for lower angle. The December 26th rain crust was about 4cm thick on this elevation, but did not seem to have much of a bridging effect on our tests.</p>
SPLKNSM,
Sunday 8th January, 2023 6:20PM
Black Queen
<p>We went for a tour down Black Queen and into the Burn. Decided to dig a pit before dropping into the steeper section of the East aspect on Black Queen. After a sudden planar result on both CT and ECT down 70cm (likely the December 17th surface hoar layer), we decided to opt for lower angle. The December 26th rain crust was about 4cm thick on this elevation, but did not seem to have much of a bridging effect on our tests.</p>
SPLKNSM,
Sunday 8th January, 2023 6:20PM
The Burn 5 Mile Basin
<p>South-West facing slope
Total snowpack 160cm
Persistent weak layer at 40cm
Persistent weak layer at 80cm
CTM19 at 80cm SP</p>
aacromp,
Wednesday 4th January, 2023 9:50PM
Ymir
<p>Dug a pit at around 1800m. Had a 15cm slab fail on first tap from the elbow. Significant wind effect where we were near ridge top. Also observed lots of hoat frost formed, so watch for that with any new snow. </p>
alistairwjones,
Tuesday 3rd January, 2023 8:40AM
Five Mile/Ymir Bowl
<p>FAST skiing out there! Very supportive and fun snow barely up to your boot top. A couple of notes.. there was a zipper crust on pretty much everything in Five Mile, maybe it came up with the afternoon/evening fog that has been crepping up the valleys the last couple days? Also, down about 35-45cms there was a melt freeze crust (up to 1 inch) that seemed to be prevalent most places we looked for it (you couldn't even bust through it with your boot!) We stayed away from steep, shallow and rocky slopes but all in all the snow seemed quite stable (also lots of slope testing out there from parties skiing steeper lines) Happy new years!</p>
allenclimbs,
Monday 2nd January, 2023 7:10PM
East Peak - AST-2 Observations
<p>AST-2 group of 9 avoided overhead hazzard, gaining East Peak (1950m). No slab propogation noted on several representative small test slopes.
Dug three pits (2 West facing, one Northwest Facing) at 1950m. Height of snow ranged from 185cm to 200cm. The December 26th crust complex is easily felt with a probe or pole down 55cm.
Results were fairly consistent with Extended Column Test showing no results. Compression tests Moderate (14,17,19) all failing at 40cm resistant planar in a vague December 26 storm snow interface.
Spooky and significant results also occured on the Mid November Persistant Weak Layer. Compression tests of Hard 23 & 24 were consistant on this burried surface hoar layer that is slow to heal.
Below the November PWL are facets, depth hoar, and four finger snow.
</p>
Sjeffery,
Saturday 31st December, 2022 7:30PM
Queens are fluffy
Greg3,
Friday 30th December, 2022 9:50PM
Ymir lodge
ian_lamoureux,
Thursday 29th December, 2022 3:20PM
Mt. Beattie approach from Hummingbird Pass
hannah.dosen,
Wednesday 28th December, 2022 9:10PM
Mt Beattie tour
<p>Epic pow led us on the search for safe sending. We toured thru hummingbird pass, tho my partner doesn’t like to be in that valley bottom so we usually take the higher route…we were aiming for mt Beattie but didn’t quite summit because we traversed past the mellower se peak and tried switch backing up to the nw peaks due to lack of proper map reading or just impatience because it was already a long day at that point.
As we attempted to summit from the steep south side at about 1900m we encountered a bit of a settling and immediately stoped and slowly reversed course and chose a more cautious route down. Unfortunately this led us to a lot of flatting out but conditions were amazing so it was great.
Keep your wits about u out there with all this wind drift 🫡</p>
Alex Carota,
Sunday 25th December, 2022 6:00AM