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
Considerable (3)
The weather is shifting, but a complex snowpack remains hidden beneath the storm snow.
Verify conditions as you go and adjust terrain choices if you notice signs of instability.
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
The region received another 10 cm of new snow this weekend totaling 80 to 150 cm of storm snow in the past week. This sits on a weak layer formed in early March that consists of facets or surface hoar that overlie a crust on all aspects except high north-facing slopes. Two very large natural avalanches (up to size 3.5) were reported on this layer last Friday, one of them running to valley bottom.
Weak layers formed in mid-February and late-January are now buried 100 to 175 cm deep.
Avalanche Activity
Two large persistent slab avalanches (size 2 to 2.5) were observed on Duffey Lake Road, failing naturally on the early March weak layer, stepping down to the mid-February layer.
On Friday, numerous solar-induced avalanches occurred in Birkenhead, including a size 3.5 persistent slab that ran full path on a northeast alpine slope.
North-facing alpine and treeline terrain continue to see several natural and human-triggered avalanche activities since the past week.