Shifting Your Mindset

Date

mercredi 29 janvier 2025

Auteur

Mike Conlan, Avalanche Forecaster & IT Project Manager

Étiqueté sous

• FEATURED

After a lengthy period of low avalanche danger for the southern half of western Canada, conditions are changing and it is now time to shift our mindset in the backcountry. Many regions will undergo a major increase in avalanche danger as stormy weather returns. The past three weeks of dry conditions formed layers that new snow won’t bond with. As new snow accumulates and forms slabs over these layers, we expect large and dangerous avalanches to be triggered both naturally and by humans. These avalanches are likely to propagate widely across slopes.

Weak surface hoar crystals grew on the snow surface over the past few weeks in many regions, which new snow won’t bond well to (Photo from Hyland Backcountry in the North Rockies).

What this means is that we all have to adapt our mindset and step back. Here are some travel tips to help:

• Sticking to dense forests or slopes shallower than 25 degrees without overhead hazard is the best way to stay safe.
• Dial back your terrain choices and even avoid avalanche terrain altogether as new snow accumulates. 
• Stay away from terrain traps, such as cliffs and gullies.
• Assess for conditions as you travel, looking for signs of instability: recent avalanches, whumpfing, and shooting cracks.
• Consider that you could trigger an avalanche from a safe spot that releases on adjacent or overhead steeper slopes (remote trigger). 
• Always be aware of what is overhead and if there are others around you.
• Stay disciplined and don’t let powder fever lure you into terrain capable of  producing large avalanches.
• Keep in mind that deeper slabs will likely be found in wind-exposed terrain, which means larger avalanches if triggered.
• Ensure that each member of your group is engaged in disciplined terrain selection.
• Travel one at a time when exposed to avalanche terrain and regroup in safe spots well away from overhead hazard.

We all want to enjoy the snow and come home safe at the end of the day. Remembering to follow these travel tips will help make sure that happens.

An avalanche that propagated widely in northwest B.C., providing an example of what avalanches may look like as new slabs form in the southern half of Western Canada.