McBride

I spent the weekend skiing in the Doré River area in McBride. Weather was warm as forecasted and light to moderate SE winds were blowing around what little dry snow was persisting in high north-facing terrain. Easterly alpine aspects became wet mid morning and loose wet avalanche activity began thereafter. The same conditions followed on all solar aspects throughout the day. In addition to loose wet avalanches, our other avalanche concern was cornices. We saw numerous past cornice drops up to size 3 and they only entrained loose snow. We didn't linger under them. The best skiing was on northerly aspects above 1800m in ankle-deep powder over a firm base. Below that elevation, all aspects had crusty surfaces of varying thickness and breakability.