The Public Avalanche Warning Service at the Canadian Avalanche Centre has
issued a Special Public Avalanche Warning for most of the interior of BC.
The Mountain National Parks and Kananaskis Country are also in on this
warning.
In short: deeply buried weak layers in the snowpack are overloaded by
recent snowfall and windloading. Natural, explosive, and human triggered
avalanches with crowns of 100 – 400 cm releasing on a variety of persistent weak
layers and even the ground are being reported. Weather is forecast to improve
over the next few days. Natural activity is expected to slow down or even stop
but human triggering of large, destructive, un-survivable avalanches is expected
to continue for several days at least. Don’t let good weather and a lack of
natural avalanche activity fool you into thinking it’s ok to go into larger,
steeper, or more aggressive terrain. It is recommended you stay out of avalanche
terrain entirely in all alpine areas. At lower elevations stay on small, simple
slopes and stay well away from runout zones.
Check here for photos of recent events:
Check here for a map of the areas of concern:
Be very careful this weekend and into early next week if you are venturing
into the backcountry.