Avalanche Forecast
Sea To Sky
In the wake of Tuesday's storm, be vigilant for wind loading - even at lower elevations. Extra caution on south through east aspects!
Avalanche Problem 1: Storm Slabs
What Elevation?
Which Slopes?
Chances of Avalanches?
Expected Size?
Travel and Terrain Advice
- Avoid steep convex slopes.
- Be careful with wind loaded pockets, especially near ridge crests and roll-overs.
- Be aware of the potential for wide propagations.
Avalanche Summary
On Tuesday, reactive soft slabs were reported on southerly terrain features at treeline. See here for details in the Mountain Conditions Report. Small steep features below tree line were also running naturally to Size 1 on a layer just above the Dec 15th melt-freeze crust.
Ski cutting produced several storm slabs up to Size 2 at higher elevations.
Also on Monday, we had reports of reactive wind slabs on steep north-facing slopes. See here for the MIN report.
Snowpack Summary
Up to 20 cm of low-density snow fell on Tuesday, accompanied by moderate to strong north west winds. Soft slabs 20-40cm thick were reactive to human traffic.
There is now 30-50cm of snow sitting on a melt-freeze crust that formed on all aspects and elevations in early December. On high north aspects this crust is thin with dry, sugary snow crystals (facets) below.
The lower snowpack is well settled and consists of several crusts that formed in the early season.
Weather Forecast
After Tuesday's storm it will clear up and we'll have dry weather with cool temperatures for the foreseeable future.
WEDNESDAY: Sunny with occasional cloudy periods. Ridge wind moderate northerly. Freezing level at the surface, alpine high temperatures of -4.
THURSDAY: Some clouds and isolated flurries. Ridge wind moderate from the north west. Temperature near -3. Freezing level 400 m.
FRIDAY: Sunny. Ridge wind moderate from the north east. Temperature near -10. Freezing level at the surface.
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.
Winds during Tuesday's storm were from the north west - which is not the usual pattern we see. Watch out for storm slabs on south through east aspects.