If you go down to the woods today, you‘d better go armed with knowledge.
Avalanche forecasters are warning people who plan to visit the backcountry this weekend to arm themselves with the most current information available and to proceed with extra caution.
“Pretty much the southern half of the province we‘ve got under a special warning at this point,” said Greg Johnson, a forecaster at the Canadian Avalanche Centre.
He said the root of the problem stems from a weak snowpack that formed during December‘s cold snap.
“Since about Christmas, we‘ve had a series of storms that have covered up that weak snow with newer snow that has settled and blown into a slab. And conditions are just becoming ripe to trigger an avalanche,” Johnson said.
In the South Columbia area that lies just to the east of the Okanagan Valley, forecasters have deemed the avalanche risk as moderate for today and extreme for Sunday.
Johnson said another winter storm is expected to hit the coast Saturday night, and could dump more snow inland.
“We feel that there will be a cycle of avalanches that will occur in the mountains because of that.”
The elevated avalanche risk combined with outdoor enthusiasts‘ desire to enjoy the last weekend of the holiday season, has emergency responders on high alert.
“You can call it business as usual, because it‘s a fact of winter we have to deal with,” said Rob Braun, a search manager with the Central Okanagan Search and Rescue Society.
People are itching to get outdoors and enjoy their favourite backcountry activity, Braun continued, and a heightened risk of avalanches probably won‘t stop them.
“And once you go out there and start having fun, stopping to check what the snow conditions are like doesn‘t really register on you. You want to keep on going and have fun out there. So the potential of accidents happening goes up.”
Forrest Nelson, president of the Similkameen Snowmobile Club, said a heightened risk of avalanches may not keep him from riding, but it will change where and how he rides, by staying off steep slopes, for example.
And last Sunday‘s tragedy that saw eight snowmobilers from Sparwood die in a series of avalanches underscores the danger associated with playing in the backcountry.
“It definitely makes you realize how much risk is involved in our sport,” Nelson said. “It adds to the adrenaline aspect of your sport, too.”
Johnson said such events, while sad, also bring the avalanche centre‘s mission into sharper focus.
“That‘s the trigger that keeps people aware and in tune with what‘s happening in the mountains.”
He also noted that despite his agency‘s warnings, people don‘t have to stay home, as long as they take proper precautions and have some education with respect to identifying avalanche risks.
“People don‘t need to stay out of the backcountry, but you do need to be able to make good decisions out there,” Johnson said.
“You need the skill sets to decipher between what‘s safe and what‘s not.”
For the latest avalanche bulletins and warnings, visit www.avalanche.ca. Top of Page
