Kluane/Dalton Range

Riding quality was:

Terrible

Snow conditions were:

• Crusty
• Hard
• Wind affected

We rode:

• Mellow slopes

We stayed away from:

• Alpine slopes
• Convex slopes
• Steep slopes
• Sunny slopes

The day was:

• Cloudy
• Sunny
• Windy

Avalanche conditions

• Slab avalanches today or yesterday.
• 30cm + of new snow, or significant drifting, or rain in the last 48 hours.
• Rapid temperature rise to near or above 0°C or wet surface snow.

It was 5°C at the parking lot, with strong winds from the south. The high peaks were cloud-covered, and there was snow being transported everywhere. The sun may have affected the surface of the second avalanche. I don’t think the first one was caused by warming, it was more likely due to significant wind loading.

We didn’t see or hear the second slab release, but the debris from the first avalanche was covered by new debris. If we hadn’t stopped, we definitely would have been caught in its path, especially since the terrain was more like a canyon.

About 15–20 cm of snow fell on April 14 in the Dalton Range, and this snow is still available for transport. It may be sitting on hard snow and facets.

I’ve been skiing in Kluane since a month now and it’s the most unstable snow i’ve seen so far.