Avalanche Canada, in partnership with Parks Canada has issued a Special Public Avalanche Warning (SPAW) for recreational backcountry users.
The SPAW region includes most of BC’s Columbia Mountains, Glacier and Mount Revelstoke National Parks, as well as the North Rockies.
This warning will be in effect from today (Wednesday) until the end of Monday. (January 2nd)
“The snowpack is currently in a precarious state,” explains Simon Horton, senior forecaster for Avalanche Canada.
“The storm cycles that hit western Canada over the past weekend added significant snow on top of an exceptionally weak lower snowpack. This has brought the conditions to a tipping point where dangerous avalanches are likely.”
“While avalanche danger ratings may start to decrease as the weather improves, there will still be a large change of triggering a large avalanche,” Horton added.
Avalanche Canada says making conservative terrain choices can help manage this risk.
They provided sticking to lower angle slopes and choosing smaller objectives that minimize the consequences of an avalanche as examples of how to reduce risk.