Avalanche Forecast
Sea To Sky
Don't let your guard down with the sunny weather and fresh snow. Take a cautious approach towards more aggressive terrain - especially steep, wind-affected terrain.
Avalanche Problem 1: Loose Wet
What Elevation?
Which Slopes?
Chances of Avalanches?
Expected Size?
Travel and Terrain Advice
- Use extra caution on sunny slopes or if the snow is moist or wet.
- Use caution above cliffs and terrain traps, where small avalanches may have severe consequences.
Avalanche Problem 2: Wind Slabs
What Elevation?
Which Slopes?
Chances of Avalanches?
Expected Size?
Wind slabs have been building over a crust layer in specific, mostly north facing locations. This layer may slide easily, particularly on steep convex terrain or where the wind has blown it into more cohesive slabs.
Travel and Terrain Advice
- Be alert to changing snow conditions, especially where the snow firms up or sounds hollow.
- Avoid steep lee and cross-loaded features
- Use ridges or ribs to avoid pockets of wind loaded snow.
Avalanche Summary
On Sunday, a Size 1 storm slab was reported in the north of the region - on a steep, unsupported convex roll.
Otherwise, no new avalanches observed.
Snowpack Summary
Approximately 40-60 cm of snow from late last week now sits on top of a rain crust (or multiple crusts) that formed during the wet weather at the end of November. The snow appears to be bonding well to the crust with no avalanche activity reported recently on this layer.
Up high, the main concern has been winds (first from the south, and more recently from the north) that have blown snow around in exposed areas creating drifts and scoured areas. The take-home message is that wind slabs can be found on many aspects at higher elevations - including some southerly aspects, which is an unusual pattern.
Other than steep south facing slopes, much of the riding in the region consists of 20-30cm of low density snow that is right-side up (the snow gets more dense as you go deeper into the snowpack).
Weather Forecast
We're into a period of fine weather for the foreseeable future, with significant warming from Wednesday onwards.
Wednesday: Sunny. Light northerly winds. Freezing levels 3000m. Alpine high temperatures to +2 Celsius.
Thursday: Sunny and warm. Freezing levels around 3500 m. Light northwesterly winds. Alpine high temperatures to +5 Celsius.
Friday: Sunny and warm. Freezing levels around 3400 m. Light northerly winds.
Avalanche Forecasts in your Inbox
Avalanche Canada has switched to an RSS feed for its daily forecasts. This is a much more flexible method that allows automatic delivery to your email inbox, or to an RSS reader of your choice.
What are RSS feeds?
RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is a popular standardized file format allowing up-to-date delivery of web-based content. RSS feeds enable you to receive content updates from websites, delivered to your email through an RSS aggregator (such as blogtrottr.com) or viewed through applications called RSS readers (such as feedly.com).
Set up an RSS feed for your email:
Select a RSS aggregator
- Sea To Sky URL:
http://www.avalanche.ca/api/forecasts/sea-to-sky.rss - Copy the url and paste it into the appropriate field of your RSS aggregator.
- Fill in your email address.
- Voila! Watch the Avalanche Canada forecast roll into your inbox.
Forecast Disclaimer
Avalanche Canada's Public Avalanche Bulletin, and other information and services provided by Avalanche Canada, are intended for personal and recreational purposes only.
**THIS INFORMATION IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND IN NO EVENT SHALL THE PROVIDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, DAMAGES RESULTING FROM DISCOMFORT, INJURY, OR DEATH, CLAIMS BY THIRD PARTIES OR FOR OTHER SIMILAR COSTS, OR ANY SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, ARISING OUT OF THE USE OF THE INFORMATION.**
The user acknowledges that it is impossible to accurately predict natural events such as avalanches in every instance, and uses the data in this bulletin with this always foremost in mind. The accuracy or reliability of the data is not guaranteed or warranted in any way and the Providers disclaim liability of any kind whatsoever, including, without limitation, liability for quality, performance, merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose arising out of the use, or inability to use the data.
Conditions will be more like spring than winter this week. Surface snow layers can become weak when hit by the sun. Minimize your exposure to terrain traps - even small sluffs can push you into dangerous terrain.