This report is slightly dated as I was last out on the snow on April 5th but I hope it still has merit for the spring season.

From March 25th to April 5th I was skiing in and around the Waddington range, Klattasine, Niuts etc. Conditions have improved a great deal since Brad White's post on March 16th. In that time(March 25th to April 5th) we saw a slow but steady improvement in the snowpack strength and a decrease in large natural avalanche activity. We certainly felt more confident in the deep snow/heavily glaciated part of the range and less confident in the dry side of the range where there is still potential for avalanches to be triggered deep in the weak layers at the base of the snowpack. We limited our ski terrain to "Challenging" in the big snow country and skied even gentler terrain in the shallow snow country and worked hard to minimize our exposure everywhere to steep rocky terrain below large triggers like cornices and seracs. The snowpack on the glaciers is generally it's usual deep, strong coastal self.

I would certainly consider going back to the range for a spring skiing or climbing trip but I would still be very aware that this is not a "normal" spring coastal snowpack until it has gone through a thorough melt freeze cycle. Which means there is lots of great skiing to be had given decent weather etc. I would be be cautious about starting up big alpine faces unless I had really good current conditions, I could observe confidently that they had already had seen LOTS of avalanche activity and there was little or no cornice hazard. There has been LOTS of big avalanche activity so there is probably lots of good climbing to be had with some good decision making.

Have a fine spring season,
Larry Stanier
ACMG Mountain Guide