Skip to content
Join our Newsletter

Backcountry Advisory

As of Wednesday, May 16 Alpine: LOW (MODERATE in PM) Treeline: LOW (MODERATE in PM) Below Treeline: LOW Travel Advisory: Expect firm snow conditions and low hazard in the morning hours.

As of Wednesday, May 16

Alpine: LOW (MODERATE in PM)

Treeline: LOW (MODERATE in PM)

Below Treeline: LOW

Travel Advisory: Expect firm snow conditions and low hazard in the morning hours. As the crust breaks down each afternoon, expect wet surface snow and a rising hazard. Take extra caution around cornices as the freeze-thaw cycle will continue to significantly weaken them. A weak system may load some snow into higher elevation start zones by the weekend.

Avalanche Activity: Most start zones exposed to the sun have produced loose wet surface avalanches over the past week. Some of these avalanches have run relatively far and resulted in significant debris piles. The trend toward overcast conditions will slow daytime warming, while light precipitation on Saturday could create some isolated areas of new snow instability.

Snowpack: Up to 10 cm of freeze-thaw crust is sitting above a variable layer of wet snow. Below this is a well-settled and very dense coastal snowpack. The surface crust will continue to break down each day, and reform with nighttime cooling. While weak systems may briefly result in new snow instabilities, the overall trend is toward snowpack settlement and a uniform dense snowpack.

Weather: The ridge of high pressure that brought us the recent sunny weather is moving east, leaving behind cloudy dry conditions through Friday. A weak system on Saturday will bring cooler temperatures and snowfall at treeline and above.

This is the final avalanche advisory that we will be producing this season. We hope you had a good winter season and have lots of stories to share over a cold beverage on a patio this summer.

– Blackcomb Mountain Snow Safety