Avalanche Forecast
North Columbia
New snow and wind Thursday night and Friday will add to recent storm slabs that sit on a touchy crust/facet/surface hoar layer. Choose conservative terrain and be especially wary of wind-loaded areas and solar aspects.
Avalanche Problem 1: Storm Slabs
What Elevation?
Which Slopes?
Chances of Avalanches?
Expected Size?
Travel and Terrain Advice
- Be careful with wind loaded and cross-loaded slopes, especially near ridge crests and roll-overs.
Avalanche Summary
A widespread natural avalanche cycle to size 3 was reported on Tuesday and Wednesday on all aspects from 1900-2800 m. South and west aspects however were the most reactive with numerous size 3 storm slabs running on the recently buried, late-March crust.
Several skier and remotely (from a distance) triggered storm slab avalanches up to size 2 with crown depths from 50-80 cm were also report on predominantly southeast, south, southwest and west aspects in the alpine. These are also suspected to have failed on the late-March layer.
Skier's on Grizzly Mountain in Roger's Pass reported triggering a size 2 on Wednesday. See MIN report.
On Monday, backcountry skiers triggered a size 2 wind slab near the Asulkan cabin on a northeast aspect near 2050m. The slab's thickness varied from 40-60cm. See the MIN report for more details.
Snowpack Summary
Storm snow amounts following Tuesday's storm typically range from 40 to 50 cm and up to 70 cm in some areas.
The recent storm snow sits a variety of old surfaces which form the late-March interface that consists of; crust on solar aspects and all aspects below 1900m, and surface hoar on high north and east aspects.
A deeper crust/surface interface buried mid-March is now down about 60 to 80 cm, and is similar to the late-March interface.
Deeper persistent weak layers from January and December are still being reported by professional observers but are generally considered dormant.
Weather Forecast
TONIGHT: Flurries. Accumulation 6-12 cm. Ridge wind moderate to strong, southwest. Alpine temperature near -6. Freezing level 500 m.
FRIDAY: Flurries. Accumulation 4-12 cm. Ridge wind moderate to strong, west. Alpine temperature near -6. Freezing level 1000 m.
SATURDAY: Mostly sunny. Ridge wind light, west. Alpine temperature near -6. Freezing level 800 m.
SUNDAY: Cloudy, flurries. Accumulation 2-5 cm. Ridge wind light to moderate, southwest. Alpine temperature near -5. Freezing level 1000 m.
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Storm slabs are expected to remain touchy, especially in wind-loaded areas above treeline. South aspects have been especially reactive due the presence of a buried crust beneath the recent storm snow.