FEBRUARY 10, 1997 SOUTH COAST & VANCOUVER ISLAND WEATHER: A near perfect coastal weekend with a trace of snow reported from a few stations. Temperature range from 0 to -8 at 2000m getting warmer on south aspects up to 2500m. Very light winds and not much change expected until the next Bulletin. SNOWPACK: Surface hoar formation being reported at all locations to ridge tops where temperature is below freezing. On sun effected slopes it gets burnt off during the day. On north aspects, the cooler temperatures are driving a little faceting in the upper snowpack. On south aspects, the surface instability caused by direct radiation has slowed down so there is little sluffing in the afternoon right now. The deeper snowpack is pretty strong and the 11 November weakness seems to be isolated to more northern parts of the region. Stability is generally good. AVALANCHES: Nothing reported DANGER: LOW TRAVEL ADVISORY: Natural and human triggered avalanches are unlikely. Normal caution advised. BULLETIN SPONSORED BY: MONODS SPORTS NORTH COLUMBIA WEATHER: It was a perfect weather weekend in the alpine with no snow reported in the region, very light alpine winds and a temperature range from -5 to -15degrees at 2000m. An upper ridge on the coast is maintaining clear skies above with extensive valley cloud below that mostly burns off by noon. SNOWPACK: Huge surface hoar and faceting in the top 20cm of snowpack are the two features of note in the upper snowpack. Both the surface hoar growth and faceting are more pronounced on north aspects and shaded locations. Thin snowpack areas, less than one metre, in the alpine are weaker while thick snowpack, over two metres, are generally quite strong. Also snowpack strength seems to greater in the southern part of the Selkirks getting weaker to the north around Valemount. But in the northern Purcells and in the eastern Columbia the deep weakness is more persistent. In Glacier Park the shears on buried surface hoar are still evident but not responding to skier triggers. AVALANCHES: One size 3 avalanche reported caused by cornice fall in the Carnes Creek area. DANGER: MODERATE in the alpine: LOW, below treeline. TRAVEL ADVISORY: Judging from where this observer saw and made snowmobile tracks on Saturday and skier tracks on Sunday the stability is good. The isolated nature of the 11 November is still something to keep in mind. FEBRUARY 10, 1997 SOUTH COLUMBIA WEATHER: Some high thin cloud in the southern part of the region moderated the intense solar radiation that gave the areas north of Invermere a near perfect alpine weekend. Temperatures above 2000m ranged from -5 to -20degrees above 2000m, a good diurnal range that contributes to slow settlement of the snowpack. Very light winds mostly confined to downslope glacier winds that are not contributing to snow transport. Not much change for the next couple of days. SNOWPACK: Surface hoar formation and faceting in the upper levels of the snowpack are the main features of interest right now. In the upper treeline adjacent to cut blocks there is some surface hoar up to 10centimetres in size. In areas that had less sun effect the surface hoar is surviving on south aspects. Watch for that after the next snowfall. Crust on south aspects is going through a daily melt freeze cycle in more northern locations. For now it effects skier stability more than snow stability. Backcountry skiing on many aspects and inclines indicates that stability is generally good. AVALANCHES: Some surface sluffing reported over the weekend but that's it. DANGER: MODERATE, in the alpine; LOW, below treeline TRAVEL ADVISORY: Use caution on steeper terrain and certain aspects especially those with areas of thinner snowpack. Some people are wishing for more snow, there hasn't been more than a trace for nearly a week. BULLETIN SPONSORED BY: MONODS SPORTS ROCKIES WEATHER: This was a mild mid-winter Rockies weekend with clear skies and excellent touring conditions. Temperature range from -5 to -20degrees at 2000m, very light winds except downslope cooling on the glaciers and only trace amounts of snow were the weather features for the period. Not much change on the horizon. SNOWPACK: Deeper snowpack areas have reasonably good stability. The height of snow required seems to be about one and a half metres. Snowpack less than one metre is nearly totally faceted with a depth hoar base. Hard slabs have been formed in many alpine areas, especially Kananaskis. This slab is sitting on the weak base. In Yoho Park near Mt Cathedral a Rutschblock 3 and 4 were reported on surface down 27 and 45cm. This characteristic is typical in areas with 1 to one and half metre snowpack. Warmer temperatures on south aspects have contributed to some rounding in the upper snowpack. AVALANCHES: The only avalanche activity reported was in the southern part of the region near Fernie and Island Lake, these were small loose avalanches on south aspects. DANGER: MODERATE TRAVEL ADVISORY: The season for the alpine ski traverses has been more busy since the warmer weather. There have been excellent snow conditions in parts of the Wapta, even up to 3 000metres. With the present weather forecast it may last for a couple of more days.