Avalanche Canada certified instructor Bodie Shandro skiing the backcountry at Sun Peaks (Image Credit: Contributed)

By Chad Klassen

AVALANCHE SAFETY

Avalanche experts predicting higher risk this weekend as temperatures quickly rise

Feb 19, 2021 | 4:13 PM

KAMLOOPS — More people are venturing out into the backcountry, but with it comes risk. Many times, people don’t know exactly what they’re getting themselves into.

“The biggest obstacle facing most new backcountry users is you don’t know what you don’t know. I would encourage anybody that’s going out into the backcountry and their buddies to take an avalanche skills training course. Your buddy is going to be your best source of rescuing you in the event of an avalanche,” said Avalanche Canada-certified instructor Bodie Shandro.

It’s been a difficult week for the ski and snowboard community, which is coming to grips with a pair of fatalities that have impacted everyone who loves the backcountry.

Last weekend, two people died in separate avalanches in Whistler. This winter, there have been five fatalities across the country, all in B.C. With the weather warming up significantly across the Southern Interior, conditions in the backcountry are expected to get more dangerous this weekend.

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“We have two buried weak layers of concern. These persistent weak layers buried deeply in our snowpack,” said Avalanche Canada Senior Forecaster Grant Helgeson. “Anywhere down from, depending on where you are in the Columbias, 60 to as much as 120 centimetres. So as we start to add new snow and as we warm that snowpack up, we’re very concerned that this may activate some of those more deeply-buried weak layers.”

The uncertainty makes avalanche training even more critical. Shandro teaches backcountry enthusiasts the ins and outs of keeping safe and being prepared in the event of an avalanche. He says the essentials are: a transceiver, a probe and a shovel.

“Transceivers find transceivers, probes find people, shovels dig them out,” he said. “In addition to that, you want to definitely have some form of communication on you. Cell phones don’t reach everyone. You want to have some form of radio and/or GPS or a personal locating device.”

Bodie Shandro is a Avalanche Canada certified instructor and teaches a course for newcomers to the backcountry (Image Credit: CFJC Today)

Shandro says the backcountry terrain at Sun Peaks isn’t as treacherous as other terrain in B.C., but people still need to be educated on how to stay safe.

“We’ve seen a significant uptick in the number of people taking avalanche skills training courses, that are hiring guides like myself to go out in the backcountry, learn the safe routes, learn how to recognize avalanche terrain, and choose the terrain that’s appropriate for the day’s conditions.”

Avalanche Canada says there will be good non-avalanche terrain to ski, but it’s not a weekend for the inexperienced. As temperatures warm up into early next week, the avalanche danger in B.C. will become high and even experienced backcountry enthusiasts will be advised not to go out.

“As high avalanche danger starts to come into our forecast that you’ll see on Sunday into Monday, those are times when folks really need to avoid all avalanche terrain. That means staying out of avalanche terrain period,” noted Helgeson.

For the latest avalanche conditions, you can visit Avalanche Canada. For anyone interested in taking an avalanche training course, you can contact Bodie Shandro at 250-318-0722.