Yesterday after receiving a few days of arctic outflow with moderate to strong N-NE winds with -15 to -25 temps, There were three Major Avalanche incidents. One resulted in a fatality. Two of the events yesterday were a result of backcountry ski tour's venturing onto steep West facing shallow rocky snowpacks. Today yet another Fatality out in Brandywine.

Today I was guiding a group out on Disease ridge when we remotely triggered a Sz 1.5 avalanche from about 30m. We were on the flats above the slide area. It was a steep SW shallow rocky snowpack where the avalanche occurred. We observed multiple Whumps throughout the day as the greenhouse effect started to consolidate slabs down below treeline on South west aspects.

We skied 15-25 degree slopes on supported terrain with no overhead hazard. There is a lot of stored energy (cold snow) in the upper snowpack. As the days warm up and the wind loading continues with a few cm each day covering up the obvious windslabs, we can only expect to see more activity and more widespread sensitivity to triggering these windslabs.

Stay safe out there, this isn't your typical coastal snowpack right now and it isn't likely to go away any time soon.