BANFF – The avalanche danger is high in Banff, Yoho and Kootenay national parks, prompting Parks Canada public safety experts to warn skiers, hikers and climbers to keep out of avalanche terrain altogether for now.
The risk is rated high in the alpine and considerable at treeline and below treeline for Friday (March 14) and considerable at all elevations heading into Saturday and Sunday with heightened avalanche danger continuing in the coming weeks.
Visitor safety experts say 30-90 centimetres of snow has fallen since March 9, including 10-15 cm in the last 24 hours, almost doubling the snowpack in areas like Bow Summit as well as big dumps along the Wapta and in Little Yoho.
They said there have been many natural avalanches up to size 3 as well as human-triggered avalanches since Saturday.
“Previous to the storm hitting on March 9, we were kind of dealing with almost a historic low snowpack year in a lot of the region; then we just got a big flip with the huge storm that hit,” said Alex Lawson, public safety specialist for Park Canada.
“The Bow Summit, the Lake Louise area got the bulk of the snow but in some areas we’ve just doubled the snowpack with this last storm. We just put a big load on an already weak snowpack and that has initiated a full natural avalanche cycle for much of the region,” he added.
“We’re seeing upper snowpack failures all the way down to full-depth avalanches that are failing pretty much on the ground, so right now our avalanche danger is at high and we’re advising people to stay out of avalanche terrain.”
Lawson said the snowpack will adjust to the new snow over the coming days, which will likely reduce the avalanche danger somewhat, but regardless, he said “that’s where it gets tricky.”
“When we drop it down to considerable, we’ll maybe not be seeing as many natural avalanches occurring anymore but human-triggered avalanches will remain likely,” he said.
Backcountry users will need to be cautious when heading into avalanche terrain at that point, with Lawson noting “it’s going to take a while for the avalanche hazard to really reduce itself” as the snowpack settles.
“We’re re-advising people, as the snowpack adjusts to this new load, to really cautiously pick their trips when they’re going into the backcountry and reduce their exposure to avalanche terrain,” he said.
“But in the immediate days here, we’re advising people to just stay out of avalanche terrain until we’re starting to see a reduction in natural avalanche activity.”
Lawson said Parks Canada’s message is also aimed at people who might not even realize they are in avalanche terrain, such as those walking along trails like the Lake Louise shoreline or are tempted to duck under a fence at a ski hill.
“As the snowpack does adjust to this new load, we are going to reduce the avalanche hazard because we’re trying to depict the actual conditions that we’re seeing out there, but what we don’t want to do is give people this false confidence that the snowpack has healed and it’s good to go,” he said.
“We’re going to be dealing with heightened avalanche danger for an extended period of time and we’re advising people as the snowpack adjusts to really cautiously expose themselves to avalanche terrain over the coming weeks.”
To check out avalanche conditions before heading to the mountains, go to https://avalanche.ca.
