Avalanche Canada South Rockies

Today we pushed into some bigger terrain. After the warm weather the temperature finally dropped back down so we headed to the alpine North of Elkford. On the way up we were double checking the info from the bulletin and confirming the amount of new snow matched what was called for. It did so we made our way to the top as planned and had fantastic views and a great day in the mountains. #avysavvy #elkfordbc

On our sled in behind the Three Sisters today the surface snow had refrozen overnight and the snow below it had dried out. We persevered through the crust at lower elevations and managed to find some snow on a NW aspect that didn't have it. After digging a quick pit that didn't ring any alarm bells (1F to Pencil the whole way through and no weak layers) we skied some steep NW trees and had good turns. #ferniestoke #explorebc #avysavvy

A day of green!! while we don’t love seeing this much green so early, it’s pretty spectacular in the these days! We spent the day in the Crowsnest Pass and found a well-settled snowpack and only saw one small loose out of extreme terrain. Winds were light and the temperature at 2200 m at noon was -0.5 degrees. We skied a northwest-facing slope that varied between soft and wind affected. Not bad since we haven’t had new snow for a while.

Start early, end early Today we went to the Corbin area to get a sense of how the warm temperatures and sunny days have been affecting the snowpack. As we approached the slope we were planning on touring up we checked the temperatures and assessed the surface snow. The top 5 cm was becoming moist above a 10 cm melt-freeze crust and the temperatures was +5 at 1900m. As we toured up there was a moderate southwest wind, and scattered clouds that was helping keep the surfa...ce snow dry. We decided to ski the south east aspect that had softened up slightly and were off the slope early and did some rescue practice to end out the day. #explorebc #avysavvy

February was a BIG month for the Mountain Information Network!! There were 81 submissions between the two regions, so we just couldn't limit the draw to just ONE! knkp19, fakejoster and bross_mmkay send us a DM for your new AvCan hats. Thanks to everyone who submitted, it was a wild ride for a few weeks there, and your shared information was critical. Keep up the good work and check out the newest Mountain Information Network (MIN) updates that make submitting even easier.

Cornices scare me On our sled into Corbin today we noticed the cornices grew quite a bit during the recent storm so we found a small one that we could investigate. It didn't take much work with the shovel to get the whole thing to drop, if it was above a steep slope it could have triggered a large avalanche. Look up, stay alive!

The new snow formed reactive storm slabs at all elevations. The slabs are particularly reactive where they overlie surface hoar. Moderate southwest wind will build fresh wind slabs at higher elevations throughout the day. These photos are examples of human triggered slabs from #Corbin yesterday. #gettheforecast at avalanche.ca #AvCan

We saw large, wet slides from south-facing avalanche paths from last Thursday and also saw a few small loose, dry from steep rock features, estimated more than 24hrs old. Otherwise, we saw no new avalanche activity. At 2280m on a shady slope (NNW) we found a shallow snowpack (total depth 190cm) that is predominantly faceted. On solar slopes, and at lower elevations, we found a breakable melt-freeze crust, with 5-10cm new snow on top. ... We found good skiing on low-angle shady slopes at alpine and treeline. It was a mix of sun and cloud today, with snow flurries this afternoon producing only minor accumulations. We did not notice any significant snow transport occurring, with light winds.

A perfect example of the power of making a Mountain Information Network (MIN) post. We were in the South Rockies region today where the story was very different. Thanks to this backcountry group for submitting the following observations from the Lizard Range today: We ski cut a large avalanche this morning, propagating the width of the avalanche path and running longer than expected. Crown Line continued from the start zone down flank walls until halfway down the runout. Crow...n varied from 15-35cm. Many test pits/shears throughout the day were showing soft slab properties that were touchy but didn’t seem to want to propagate. We expected results from our cut but were surprised by its wide propagation. We performed a transceiver search of the whole runout while skiing the bed surface (soft with 5cm ski pen) and observed no tracks or signals in the area. https://www.avalanche.ca/map See more

The storm started to pick up throughout the day at Alexander Creek with about 5 cm of heavy snow by the afternoon. It wasn't enough to create fresh storm or wind slabs (yet), but we still stayed away from big alpine slopes just in case the onset of the new snow and mild temperatures were stressing the deep persistent slab. With continued winds and snow overnight the avalanche hazard will be increasing. #gettheforecast #avysavvy

This is a must read. Our team uses this same type of approach, and you can too!

Strong alpine winds = look for sheltered areas to find the best riding! We spent the day in the Castle area; a place we don’t go to often near Castle Mountain Resort. We toured up through a sheltered treed ridge, and dug a profile to find the snowpack consolidated and strong around the persistent weak layers. While these layers and the snow around them seem to be gaining strength we are still avoiding steep, rocky, shallow snowpack areas where it may still be possible to trigger these layers. The best skiing was in the trees in sheltered areas to avoid the wind affected snow.

New snow and wind had us on the look out for wind slab. So we headed out to explore up McClatchie. On our way up we noticed small pockets of wind loading in lee areas so we made sure to test them as we went by. They were very touchy! We got shooting cracks and the block slid off easily when tilted on a shovel. So skiing wind loaded areas was out for today. We found an open area that wasn't loaded and had really fun turns. #avysavvy #ferniestoke #explorebc

With what we learn from this small conservative pilot project in the North and South Rockies this year, it is our hope that we can expand our offerings next winter. Congratulations to this year’s successful applicants. #payitforward @dave_mcaleney Working towards CAA Ops 2 @kootsroots CAA Ops 2 graduate, working towards CAA professional membership @nicolematei Working towards CAA Ops 2... Avalanche Canada Avalanche Canada North Rockies #AvCan #AvySavvy

Better late than never!! Our December Mountain Information Network (MIN) winner is Logan Bell!! Thank you for your contribution to the backcountry community. Message us to get your new Avalanche Canada !! Thank you to everyone that has submitted their observations in December.

No new epic ski line for us! We took advantage of the visibility today to investigate a new to us area in the Crowsnest Pass. We used some common digital tools to plan our trip into a basin south of Dead Man’s Pass. While we toured up we came across a slope with evidence of past avalanches (trees of different ages, species, and trees stripped of branches on the uphill side). The slope above was a steep rocky terrain feature, this start zone was still mostly rock so we felt comfortable crossing the slope lower down one at a time watching each other as we crossed. Sadly this area was not the hidden we were hoping for. #youneverknowifyoudonttry #backcountryskiing #crowsnestpass #teamavcan

Not bad! We managed to find a spot north of Sparwood with soft snow rather than the firm and wind affected surfaces that seem to be so prevalent. There was 5 cm of recent fluff on 15 cm of older snow from the last storm. Because of the orientation of the terrain, it had been spared some of the worst wind. With these stagnant conditions we have some time to mentor some up and coming snowmobile avalanche professionals. Going through our daily workflows, hazard analysis, forecast, snow science and afternoon reporting. It’s good to be able to have some time to pay it forward. #avcan #avysavvy

Great conditions for exploring the Koko Claims area near Elkford thanks to sunny skies and easy sled travel. After being spooked by big avalanches in the Lizard Range yesterday we were surprised to see no recent slab avalanches (and we could see lots of big terrain). There was a bit of wind affect in the alpine, but most areas had 30-40 cm of cold low-density powder. Despite the inviting weather and snow conditions we remained cautious because of the persistent slab problem in the region and stayed on small slopes without terrain traps. We also found a nice sunny meadow to sharpen up on our rescue skills.