Snowpack a ‘house of cards,’ says Avalanche Canada after death of off-duty Nelson police officer | 24CA News
A backcountry avalanche in southeastern British Columbia that killed an off-duty police officer and injured one other comes at a time when Avalanche Canada says the snowpack throughout a lot of Western Canada is unusually weak.
The not-for-profit group primarily based in Revelstoke, B.C., warned Sunday that prolonged durations of drought late into final yr and chilly climate beginning in November have contributed to weak layers in B.C.’s snowpack, making it extra susceptible to avalanches.
“Everywhere in British Columbia, every slope right now is suspect,” stated Grant Helgeson, a senior forecaster with Avalanche Canada.
Nelson police recognized the officer who died as Const. Wade Tittemore, 43, a married father of two who had been with the drive for 4 years after transferring from Calgary.
The second officer, Const. Mathieu Nolet, 28, stays in essential situation in an intensive care unit.
Tittemore and Nolet have been snowboarding close to Empire Cabin, northwest of Kaslo, B.C., when the avalanche struck round midday Monday and swept the lads away in a “bowl-type area,” NPD Chief Donovan Fisher stated.
Avalanche Canada rated the slide that caught the officers as Size 3 — sufficiently big to destroy vehicles or small buildings.
“It wasn’t like a super dangerous, gnarly slope,” Helgeson stated. “Too often, when you think of avalanche fatalities, you think of big risk-takers, and that’s not what these folks were doing out there.”
He says the issue would’ve been the “very dangerous,” unpredictable snowpack.
“It really is a house of cards at this point,” he stated. “It’s really hard to trust anything.”
Avalanche Canada stated in a put up on its web site that some professionals are evaluating this yr’s snowpack to 2003, “which was one of the worst years on record for avalanche fatalities.”
In January of that year, Craig Kelly, one of the best professional snowboarders at the time, was one of seven people killed in an avalanche on the Durrand Glacier close to Revelstoke.
A month later, seven highschool college students died after being caught in an avalanche in southeastern B.C.
‘Time to relax out’
On Monday night time, the avalanche danger rating for the region around Kaslo was at Level 3 on its five-point scale, meaning natural avalanches were possible and human-triggered ones were “probably.”
Helgeson urges backcountry users to exercise more caution than normal and “select conservative terrain.”
“It’s simply time to relax out and take a step again as a result of we do not have a superb understanding of what the snowpack is succesful [of] as we noticed yesterday,” he said.
WATCH | Experts offer safety training as forecasters predict a severe avalanche season in B.C.:
Eric Dumerac of Mountain Skills Academy and Adventure and Monte Johnston of Black Sheep Adventure Sports offer up advice on equipment and training to stay safe in B.C.’s backcountry during the winter season.
Search and rescue teams are urging backcountry users to train and prepare before going out in the snow.
Dwight Yochim, senior manager with the B.C. Search and Rescue Association, says anyone who enjoys B.C.’s outdoors in the winter should get training on how to identify avalanche terrain.
“Anywhere the place there is a slope and snow, you will be in avalanche terrain,” he stated
Yochim says these heading into the backcountry must be carrying avalanche emergency tools, together with snow probes, shovels and private locator beacons — satellite-synced gadgets that may ship an SOS sign along with your location to rescue businesses.
