Circlet Lake Route information

Quick report

Weather

cold, stormy, cloudy

Ride Type

mellowSlopes, denseTrees, openTrees

Stayed Away

steepSlopes, cutBlocks, alpineSlopes

Riding Quality

good

Snow Conditions

deepPowder, windAffected, heavy

Avalanche Conditions

avalancheConditionSnow, avalancheConditionSound, avalancheConditionSlab

Weather: -10 to -5 degrees (estimated), snowing very heavily. Strong winds gusting upwards of 40kmh (estimated) On Friday we went up towards circlet lake but ended camping early on the western end of forbidden plateau, with the plan to head towards circlet lake today and then head back tommorow . Friday the snowpack was relatively stable with quite a few rain layers mixed in. And some slush persisting lower in the pack. Overall well blended together. When we woke up approx 50cm of heavy powder had fallen with significant wind shifting creating loaded spots. We decided to call it and head home as with the new snow trail breaking became very difficult so we did not want to wait for more to fall. As we were traversing the plateau we noticed whoomphing and shooting cracks, even in spots that where practically flat(less than 5 degrees in slope). Additionally we could hear large avalanches in the distance throughout the day. Coming down to lake Helen Mackenzie(steepest segment) we stayed in dense trees and the snow held fairly well with only small amounts of sluff coming down(no slab slides). Regarding riding conditions the snow while deep was quite heavy and not very fun to ski on as we kept sinking and getting stuck even on the steeper slope

Weather

Avg Temp

-5

Max Temp

-4

Min Temp

-15

Wind Speed

windSpeedModerate

Blowing Snow

intense

Sky Condition

overcast

Snowfall Rate

5

Wind Direction

SW

New Snow24 Hours

50

Storm Start Date

2026-02-20

Storm Snow Amount

50

Temperature Trend

rising

Precipitation Type

snow

Lots of snow being transported. Weather was warming throughout the day. On Friday evening as we where going to bed we would estimate the temp at -15-20 and warmed throughout the day at -4

Snowpack

Depth

100

Obs Type

summary

Site Aspect

S, NE, N, SE, E, SW, W, NW

Test Fracture

sudden

Site Elevation

1200

Ski Penetration

25

Test Initiation

veryEasy

Foot Penetration

45

Cracking Observed

1

Site Elevation Band

tln, btl

Surface Conditions

newSnow

Whumpfing Observed

1

Test Failure Layer Crystal Types

stormSnow