Experts issue warning to backcountry users for BC ranges
Posted Feb 19, 2016 4:28 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Avalanche Canada has issued a special warning about the British Columbia backcountry, as many head out to the alpine to take advantage of the nice weather.
The warning lasts until Monday and covers the North Columbia, South Columbia, the Purcells and the Kootenay Region as well as Glacier National Park.
Avalanche Canada forecasting program supervisor James Floyer said the recent snow storms of at least a metre of snow in the last 10 days, is sitting on a weak layer.
“It’s been quite active,” he said. “We’ve had a number of near misses, really actually throughout this week and surprise avalanches.”
“It’s a little bit of a surprise layer we feel that we’re talking about.”
Floyer said staying in the mountains is fine, but he’s recommending people keep to the tree line and out of the alpine.
“This message is a little bit targeted to sledders,” he said. “The basic tenant of unstable snowpack applies to everyone but we know that sledders often go to areas that see a lot of heavy traffic which is great, if you’re moving beyond those areas it’s really going to be important to dial things back and have a real critical look at the slope.”
Floyer added skiers aren’t off the hook either and if they’re in an area where there hasn’t been a lot of traffic, they should consider giving it time to settle and allow the weak layer to bond.
The danger ratings are still unclear and officials are still working on the forecast, issuing the warning in hopes of getting the word out as soon as possible.
“I strongly suspect that we’ll see a lot of considerable in the forecast, considerable is on the of the hardest ratings to interpret because it’s not at the bottom of the scale but it’s not the really obvious avalanche danger that’s associated with high snow amounts and rain,” he said.
He advises backcountry-goers to bring proper rescue equipment, that includes a transceiver, a probe and a shovel.
