Fresh snow in the backcountry tempts the outdoors enthusiasts: Avalanche Canada has the weekend update for Northwest

With a week of new snow falling across the Northwest, many outdoors enthusiasts will be looking to get exploring, though mindful of conditions around the region as they make their plans.

Towards some advice, Avalanche Canada has outlined the conditions in area mountains both in the North Coast Inland ranges and those of the Bulkley Valley

North Coast Coastal

When it comes to advice towards the next three days, Avalanche Canada outlined the current situation  and what you may expect in the backcountry areas located from Prince Rupert and the surrounding Terrace/Kitimat Region.

Continue to make conservative terrain choice while the storm snow stabilizes. There is still some concern for buried weak layers, which means that avalanches have the potential to pull back into lower angled terrain than you might expect.

Further notes on the summary can be reviewed here.

Northwest Inland

For the areas  surrounding Smithers and the Bulkley Valley the notes for those in the backcountry include:

The best riding will be found in sheltered terrain. Keep your head up in wind loaded features near ridgeline. Avoid shallow rocky start zones, deeper weak layers are still a concern.

Further notes on the summary can be found here.

Last night the risk of avalanche resulted in a closure of Highway 16 for close to three hours, as Ministry of Transportation Officials conducted avalanche risk assessments. 

As we noted last evening, the road was reopened to travellers at 8:40 PM

Today's conditions from Drive BC note of compact snow along Highway 16, with some slippery sections towards the Terrace region.

More notes on Weather situations across the Northwest can be found from our archive page.