In the last few weeks, there’s been a number of notable avalanches in a variety of regions across western Canada. I do not have enough data that might help determine what the cause is, whether these slides are related to lingering winter
weak layers, if there is some kind of pattern in terms of when/where and conditions present when these were triggered.
Suffice to say that from the comments I’ve been getting, photos and videos I’ve seen, and what I know of how the spring and summer have evolved the summer snowpack remains a significant factor and I encourage everyone to keep avalanches
in mind when travelling in the mountains this summer. Certainly mountaineers at high elevations need to be aware of this issue but check out this video of an avalanche at MT Edith Cavell earlier this month and look for the hikers getting dusted in the moraines
near the runout zone: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CnUSrHVJZE
We’ve posted photos of some notable recent events on the CAC website:
http://www.avalanche.ca/cac/library/avalanche-image-galleries/avalanchessummer2011
Keep your head up out there.
Karl
Klassen - Public Avalanche Warning Service Manager
Canadian Avalanche Centre
P.O. Box 2759 | 110 Mackenzie Ave.
Revelstoke, BC Canada | V0E 2S0
kklassen@xxxxxxxxxxxx | www.avalanche.ca | Skype: karlklassen
Phone: 250.837.2141 ext. 227 | Mobile:
250.814.3756 | Fax: 250.837.4624