Hyland Backcountry Services Ltd
Box 3257 V0J 2N0 Smithers, BC, Canada

Hello Ski Clients & friends! Due to a group cancellation I have a discounted week at the Burnie Glacier Chalet next week March 20-28. This could be a regular guided week or a combination of an AST 2 and Glacier Travel & Crevasse Rescue training course also. please email me ASAP at [email protected]

I hate marketing, advertising, hashtag this, and instacrap that. I do need to, on occasion, drum up business - so go skiing, on any given day, and most of the time, the end result will leave you with a smile on your face.

Here is another nasty little event, well not so little, it would ruin your day. This layer is not healing, it is not going away. This likely failed on Monday. If you look close it failed as a windslab, then stepped to the deeper layer of raincrust and facets from november. But it was not a huge load or thick slab that triggered the deeper layer. Think carefully when you drop into a larger feature and assume this layer is no longer an issue.

Finished up a 4 day AST 2 course with Members of Houston and Bulkley Valley SAR. Over the past few days, we couldn't have got better learning opportunities then what we saw. Today we see continued evidence of very large avalanches failing throughout the area on a layer near ground buried in November. The first is up the old Pine Ck sled trail area, it ran full path breaking trees, and putting debris into the creek, Size 3. It likely came out yesterday or friday. The other pic is of the "5000" above Lake Kathlyn today, failing this morning eith the intense wind loading - Size 3.5.

I've been teaching a few AST sled courses for youth and SAR the past week, and starting to see pretty good evidence of a deep slab avalanche problem in the shallower snowpack regions of the Bulkley Valley corridor. There have been several observations ( Size 2-3) and close calls from the past week, all appear to be on the East side of the Bulkley river corridor, where the snowpack is usually shallower then to the west( Babines, Seaton). The problem is a layer of sugary facets... near the base of the snowpack, on and around a raincrust. This is unlikely to trigger in most areas, except where the snowpack is thin, and the trigger is closer to the weak layer. We have had the most snowfall and load on this layer in the past 2-3 weeks, prior to that, the season was cold, with a shallow snowpack. If you are starting to ride outside of slopes that see regular, heavy traffic resulting in localized compaction, keep this in mind. See more

these slabs where visible from the hwy this morning in good light, some were blown in, but I suspect these failed in the last 12-24 hr with the outflow windloading. Given some of the wide crown propogations, and high elevation, steep, shallow start zones, I suspect these may have stepped down to the Nov crust interface.

AST 2 Ski Avalanche Course Feb 13-16,2020 still has space available. If you have your AST 1, and want to spend more time in the terrain and snowpack, this is your next step. Please see www.hylandbackcountry.ca for more information

Here is a visual of a snow profile I dug on Dec 24, near the skihill. While the profile is in the Hudson Bay Range, it paints a pretty clear picture of the general snowpack in the area. It has been dry, cool, and with a very shallow snowpack, it is quite weak. My main concern is with the earlier crusts and associated facets (sugar) from November. In many of the lower elevation start zones, these crusts are likely not an issue, but in the higher paths it likely will. While we are nowhere near a tipping point at this time, if we get a significant load with a warming period, that may change. Many large avalanches are running on this layer in the south of the province in the last week as a result of significant loading. Time will tell.

Looking for a Christmas gift for the skier on your list? Our AST 2 , an advanced recreational level avalanche course is happening Feb 13 - 16,2020. For more information see www.hylandbackcountry.ca Happy Holidays !

Still a few spots on a sled specific AST 1 avalanche course in Houston this weekend. Please contact: [email protected]

I ran the first AST 1 course of the season over the weekend. Despite the lack of snow , students still learned lots and upped their skills .

I'm fortunate to have been able to work with these folks .Brad and Alison ran a tight ship and where excellent mentors to young guides!

Making the best of the slow start to the season - Took advantage of fast travel for the South Summit of Hudson Bay Mtn.