- Date
- Monday, February 24, 2025
- Author
- Mike Conlan, Avalanche Forecaster
- Tagged under
Dangerous avalanche conditions exist in most regions in western Canada. A cohesive slab of 50 to 100 cm of snow overlies a weak upper section of the snowpack, consisting of various layers of surface hoar crystals, faceted grains, and hard melt-freeze crusts. This has created a reactive avalanche problem that resulted in many near-misses last weekend and unfortunately one fatality. We’ve seen widespread natural and human-triggered avalanche activity, with humans triggering large (size 2 to 3) avalanches on steep slopes or adjacent to them (remotely triggered).
This snowpack setup will be slow to strengthen and it may take weeks for the likelihood of triggering avalanches to decrease. It will be important to focus on maintaining good travel habits, as getting caught in one of these avalanches could be fatal.
Here are some risk management strategies to stay safe during this tricky period in the backcountry:
- Adopt a conservative mindset when in avalanche terrain.
- Be diligent about terrain choices, sticking to slope angles less than 30 degrees when in clearings, open trees, and alpine terrain.
- Follow disciplined group decision making, ensuring that each group member is engaged in terrain selection.
- Back off sun-exposed slopes if it is warm and sunny and expect natural avalanches during stormy conditions.
- Minimize exposure to overhead hazard, given that these avalanches can be remotely triggered and travel into runout zones.
- Travel one at a time when exposed to avalanche terrain and regroup in safe spots well away from overhead hazard.
- Avoid exposure to terrain traps, such as gullies, cliffs, and trees to reduce the consequence of being caught in an avalanche.
- Practice patience, avoid complacency, and accept that you may need to manage this risk for weeks to come.
Naturally triggered slab avalanches occurring on any steep terrain feature in this photo near Pine Pass in the North Rockies. (MIN user Dave)
A snowmobiler triggered a large avalanche that propagated widely in the South Rockies. (MIN user markusvandenhoek04)
A large slab avalanche near Whistler. (MIN user zachwass2000)
A remotely triggered avalanche near Duffey Lake Road in southwest BC. Skiers walking on the slope in the foreground of the picture triggered a buried weak layer that propagated over to the steep slope, causing it to avalanche. (MIN user Matthew Dahabieh)