Northern Escape Heli and Cat Skiing
British Columbia • Canada
Forecast Point 5,026 ft • 54.7503, -129.3173
Avalanche Forecast
Avalanche Forecasts are for use by experienced backcountry travelers in uncontrolled sidecountry and backcountry terrain. These forecasts and conditions do not apply to open, in-bounds terrain at ski resorts, which is subject to avalanche control by local resort ski patrol.
Avalanche Rating
Moderate (2)
Buried surface hoar may make wind slabs more reactive.
More Detail
To get the complete forecast with additional graphics and details, please view the Avalanche Canada Zone forecast provided by Avalanche Canada.
Snowpack Discussion
On the surface, around 20 to 30 cm of snow has combined over the last two storms. This snow sits on a thick rain crust which may also have weak surface hoar or facets overlying it in some areas.
Recent and forecast winds have varied in direction, so expect wind slabs on all aspects. These slabs will likely be more reactive where they overlie the weak surface hoar and facets.
The mid and lower snowpack are not concerning at this time, and are made up of various hard layers, or moist snow at lower elevations.
This MIN report has a great description of the snow and ski conditions at Shames from last Friday.
Avalanche Activity
On Friday and Thursday, north of Stewart, several explosive and skier-triggered wind slab avalanches were triggered up to size 1.5.
With more snow and moderate wind in the forecast, triggering wind slab avalanches will remain possible, especially in areas where they overlie surface hoar.