Anyone wanting to head out into BC’s backcountry will need to exercise caution with the temperatures fluctuating over the past couple weeks.
BC is no stranger to avalanches in places of higher terrain, with the north being no exception.
However, the danger is quite low according to Avalanche Canada Warning Service Manager Karl Klassen who recently spoke with MY PG Now.
“The danger rating in the alpine treeline and little below tree line have low levels of danger being reported there. It’s still time to be cautious there things are starting to improve as the temperatures start to cool off throughout the province after the warm spell we had over the past couple of days.”
The updated conditions come after a deadly avalanche was reported at Mount Brewer in Invermere claiming the life of a father and son from Calgary.
“We had some stormy weather earlier in the month and that was followed by a warm spell and when it warmed up it sensitized that layer and especially in places where the snowpack is shallow or has shallow spots – that layer became very easy to trigger.”
“The snowpack in the purcells right now from what we can tell is probably unique, I don’t think you have the same conditions around Prince George as compared to what we were seeing sort by Golden and Invermere. The purcells have a fundamentally weak snowpack there is a fundamentally weak snowpack that formed earlier in the season as far back as October and it’s created a very sugary layer of soft snow near the base,” added Klassen.
Klassen explains what would need to happen in our neck of the woods for a similar event to occur.
“You want to be looking for places where the snowpack is shallow or variable, there might be some places where there is a metre or less of snow and other places where the snowpack is two metres or more so those variable snowpacks are a bit more susceptible.”
The Prince George-Northern Rockies area isn’t updated on a daily basis but based on the information they gather, it isn’t anywhere close to creating any of the avalanche activity we’ve seen recently in the Kootenays.
“It seems like the snowpack there is in relatively good shape compared to other places where we’ve had accidents recently or bigger avalanches recently.”
If you are heading into an area where conditions may be ripe for avalanche activity, Klassen advises you to take a transceiver, probe and a shovel along with the proper training to use those tools.