| Friday | Saturday | Sunday | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alpine | 3 Considerable | ~ | ~ |
| At Treeline | 3 Considerable | ~ | ~ |
| Below Treeline | 2 Moderate | ~ | ~ |
The orange segments show which aspects are most affected by the primary concern. If the icon is completely orange, this means the primary concern exists on all slopes.
Alpine, Treeline and Below Treeline are separate zones with distinct characteristics. The arrow points to the zones most affected by the primary concern. For more information on elevation zones, click here.
Indicates the time of day where the primary concern is likely to be a problem. Avalanche conditions can change between shady, cool mornings and sunny, warm afternoons. If both icons appear, it means the primary concern is present all day.
The weak layers of surface hoar have not improved significantly . They are well preserved and getting buried slowly. Many avalanche incidents and close calls continue to occur from human triggered avalanches sliding on these layers. Check out our online photos collection of recent avalanches that help illustrate the current problem in our snowpack.
Surprisingly little change in the snowpack overall. Continued dry and cool condtions are preserving the unstable surface layers of snow-expect this to continue for some time.
A frontal system crossing the southern half of the province should bring light flurries to some of the region through today. A trend of clearing weather and slowly warming weather is expected to progress through the weekend. Light to moderate south winds are forecast through the weekend as well.
Large natural avalanches and human triggered avalanches continue to occur and are growing in size as the weak layer gets deeper. These remain easy to trigger and are sliding in terrain that is surprisingly low angle. Check out our online photos collection of recent avalanches that help illustrate the current problem in our snowpack.
Terrain to Avoid: All north aspects with any type of slight bulge or rolling convexity are key places to stay off of. Be especially wary of loaded pillows of snow especially in sheltered areas where surface hoar will have been well preserved.
Techniques to Manage Risk: As long as the new snow on the crust on south aspects stays shallow enough this is the terrain of choice. Otherwise choose small features without terrain traps below. As soon as the terrain gets steep enough to slide on start thinking of the consequences of the snow under your feet avalanching. If the run out looks un-inviting choose another route.
Snowfall over the past week has put 20-35cm of snow on surface hoar and sun crusts. There are scattered hard wind slabs, loose faceted snow and soft slabs throughout the alpine and treeline elevations. The feature of most concern is the 4 surface hoar layers buried in the upper metre of the snowpack. The Feb.8 layer is down around 70cm and remains a layer of concern on north aspects.Below around 1200m the snowpack has become isothermal which, given the recent cold snap, is now frozen up.
Prepared by Anna Brown
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Recent avalanche incidents for this region. To view all reported incidents please check out the discussion forum:
