Avalanche Forecast
Sea To Sky
Fresh storm slabs will be reactive, especially in wind-affected terrain. Use extra caution around steep unsupported terrain features.
Avalanche Problem 1: Storm Slabs
What Elevation?
Which Slopes?
Chances of Avalanches?
Expected Size?
Travel and Terrain Advice
- Use conservative route selection, choose moderate angled and supported terrain with low consequence.
- Be careful with wind loaded pockets, especially near ridge crests and roll-overs.
- Use caution on open slopes and convex rolls
Avalanche Problem 2: Cornices
What Elevation?
Which Slopes?
Chances of Avalanches?
Expected Size?
Large, looming cornices have formed along ridgelines. They need to be given an extra wide berth from above and below. A large cornice collapse in the wrong location may have the ability to trigger a large avalanche on the slope below.
Travel and Terrain Advice
- Stiff cornices can easily pull back into flat terrain at ridgetop if they fail.
- Falling cornices may trigger large avalanches on the slopes below.
Avalanche Summary
Preliminary reports from Saturday indicate storm slabs were reactive to skier and explosive triggers, producing mostly small slabs (size 1) and one larger slab (size 2) in lee terrain.
Several large cornices collapses were reported last week. One resulted in a fatal accident in the Callaghan area on Saturday. A snowmobiler was parked 7-10 m back from the edge of a corniced ridge when a large chuck broke off and took the rider down the slope. See here for a full report. Cornices grew larger with Saturday's storm.
Snowpack Summary
25-40 cm of fresh snow sits above variable interfaces including hard wind-affected snow in exposed terrain, a hard crust below 1900 m, and a sun crust on south-facing alpine slopes. Deeper deposits of storm snow exist in lee and cross-loaded alpine terrain. The mid-January crust is now buried beneath 150-200 cm of settled snow, but a heavy trigger such as a cornice fall could potentially wake up this layer. The lower snowpack is generally strong and well-settled.
Weather Forecast
SUNDAY: Gradual clearing and cooling as Arctic air pushes into the region, moderate to strong northeast wind and alpine high temperatures around -15 C.
MONDAY: Sunny, moderate northeast wind, alpine high temperatures around -14 C.
TUESDAY: Mostly sunny, light wind, alpine high temperatures around -12 C.
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25-40 cm of fresh snow from Saturday's storm has formed reactive storm slabs, especially in wind-affected terrain at higher elevations.