Skip to content
Join our Newsletter

Backcountry Avalanche Advisory

As of Wednesday, March 17

Alpine: Considerable Thursday, Moderate Friday

Treeline: Moderate through Friday

Below Treeline: Low through Friday

Travel Advisory : An intense storm swept through our region yesterday and last night with winds at times averaging 100 km/h and gusting to 135. Freezing levels rose the night before last with temperatures peaking at +0.5 at the mountaintops, bringing rain briefly as high as 2,000 metres before temperatures began to fall yesterday morning. Expect to encounter extensive wind scouring on ridge tops and on any wind exposed slopes and deep pockets of wind-loaded snow to the lee of terrain features especially lower down in start zones. The phrase of the day is "Highly Variable" so heads up out there!

Avalanche Activity: Avalanche control this morning was producing results varying from size 1.0, with up to size 2.5 results on North and Northwest start zones with crown lines up to 70 cm deep. There was also evidence of a natural avalanche cycle occurring during the past 24 hours.

Snowpack: 20 cm of snow fell at treeline during the past 24 hours, with closer to 30 cm accumulating in alpine terrain. The strong winds during the storm have made for extremely variable distribution of the storm snow. A wide variety of old surface features can be found resting under the new snow varying from lighter density snow to moist snow, as well as areas of old windslab and crust.

Weather: A building ridge of high pressure will bring sunny breaks this afternoon with mainly sunny skies expected for Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Conditions may vary and can change rapidly. Check for the most current conditions before heading out into the backcountry. Daily updates for the areas adjacent to Whistler/Blackcomb are available at 604-938-7676, or surf to www.whistler-blackcomb.com/weather where there is also a link to the CAA public avalanche bulletin, or call 1-800-667-1105.

- Whistler Mountain Snow Safety