Stay out of back country Canadian Avalanche Centre Warns
By Nelson Daily Staff
By Suzy Hamilton, The Nelson Daily
Forecasters at the Canadian Avalanche Centre (CAC) are warning Kootenay Boundary residents to avoid all avalanche terrain until after the weekend.
The danger is high in both alpine and treeline terrain and considerable below treeline. This means that travelers should make careful snowpack evaluations down below and avoid travel up above said forecaster Stephanie Lemieux.
The rain on snow event Monday and Tuesday has added a “significant load to the snowpack,” she said.
Strong winds in the alpine are contributing to the danger as the transported snow can cause avalanches, and with another storm on the way, it could trigger a “very touchy situation”, she said.
Lemieux said the danger could taper off on Saturday when temperatures drop, but the warm temperatures and heavy precipitation are not conducive to back country use at any elevation.
“Make very conservative choices,” she said. “Look at our bulletins that we update daily at www.avalanche.ca and carry all the proper gear.”
Lemiuex said that although snowfall has been about average this year, long periods of low avalanche danger have helped keep people alive.
“Dangerwise, it has been kind of safe compared to other years.”
Provincially, three people have died in avalanches this year. An average year sees about 10 fatalities, said Lemieux.
According to the BC Coroner’s Report, 68 percent of the avalanche deaths occurred in the Interior between 1996 and 2013. Ninety percent of the victims provincially were male during that time period.
And most victims were snowmobilers, followed by skiers and then heli-skiers. The average age of avalanche victims was 36 years old.
During this time period, 129 avalanches caused 183 deaths, 29 of the avalanches caused multiple deaths.
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