Natural avalanche on Mt Dennis

Ice climbers - we observed the aftermath of a natural size 2+ avalanche that ran down over the ice climbs Labatt's Lane and Heineken Hall on Wednesday. You can see from the photo that the powder cloud has blown all of the snow off the trees adjacent to the avalanche path.

These are poor routes, rarely climbed and located in the guts of a huge avalanche path, but this avalanche is relevant to the neighbouring climbs: Pilsner Pillar, Carlsberg Column and Guinness Gully. Due to the extended period of dry weather and lack of snow, the snowpack is very weak and faceted. This means that avalanches will run much further than normal, even through low-angle terrain as the debris gouges through the weak, sugary snowpack.

We see this as an issue throughout the park, but particularly in Field where the ice climbs are in steep gullies and faceted avalanches have a history of travelling far.

A reminder that Parks Canada only does avalanche control here to protect the road and railway below, not climbers.