The CAC has issued the third special public avalanche warning in four weeks. Very large, very destructive avalanches have occurred in the last few days. In some cases, these avalanches are overrunning low angle terrain, destroying mature timber, and extending traditional avalanche path boundaries. If you’ve never seen a truly big slide, taking a drive through Rogers Pass is illustrative right now.
Weather will improve over the weekend and that will entice folks into the mountains after an extended stormy period of strong winds and poor visibility. When the sun hits later in the weekend, it will be the first major warm-up of a snowpack that contains two metres or more of still largely unsettled storm snow, fresh windslabs, and deeply buried persistent weak layers. We often experience significant natural and human triggered avalanche activity during and for several days after a time when these factors coincide.
I know it’s hard to think avalanches when the sun is shining on a slope covered in perfect powder, but a high degree of discipline and consistently cautious terrain and route selection will be required this weekend and probably into next week. Please keep your head up and stay off of and out from under avalanche terrain unless you have extensive local knowledge, a high level of training, and lots of experience handling conditions like these. This might be a good weekend to play in places where avalanche hazards are managed and controlled by professionals.
You can view the text of the warning here: http://www.avalanche.ca/uploads/SPAW/Special Warning March 15 2012.pdf
Our avalanche forecasts (http://www.avalanche.ca/cac/bulletins/latest) contain more detailed information and are updated daily by about 5 p.m. PDT.
Karl Klassen – Manager, Public Avalanche Warning Service
Canadian Avalanche Centre, kklassen@avalanche.ca
Weather will improve over the weekend and that will entice folks into the mountains after an extended stormy period of strong winds and poor visibility. When the sun hits later in the weekend, it will be the first major warm-up of a snowpack that contains two metres or more of still largely unsettled storm snow, fresh windslabs, and deeply buried persistent weak layers. We often experience significant natural and human triggered avalanche activity during and for several days after a time when these factors coincide.
I know it’s hard to think avalanches when the sun is shining on a slope covered in perfect powder, but a high degree of discipline and consistently cautious terrain and route selection will be required this weekend and probably into next week. Please keep your head up and stay off of and out from under avalanche terrain unless you have extensive local knowledge, a high level of training, and lots of experience handling conditions like these. This might be a good weekend to play in places where avalanche hazards are managed and controlled by professionals.
You can view the text of the warning here: http://www.avalanche.ca/uploads/SPAW/Special Warning March 15 2012.pdf
Our avalanche forecasts (http://www.avalanche.ca/cac/bulletins/latest) contain more detailed information and are updated daily by about 5 p.m. PDT.
Karl Klassen – Manager, Public Avalanche Warning Service
Canadian Avalanche Centre, kklassen@avalanche.ca
