While snow seems to be a constant, our understanding of it has evolved considerably in recent years – at least when it comes to the issue of avalanche safety.
Understanding the how and why of avalanches has become a highly specialized science, and the body of knowledge is continually changing and being updated, as are the best practices people can take to avoid avalanches, and mitigate their impact. What was standard procedure even a few years ago may not be recommended today, and even the basic equipment has changed.
This Saturday, Nov. 19, the Canadian Avalanche Centre will share all the latest data and wisdom with backcountry users through eight featured speakers. The third annual Backcountry Avalanche Workshop, sponsored by Columbia Brewery, takes place in Vancouver at the Ridge Theatre, at 3131 Arbutus Street.
Avalanche forecaster Ilya Storm of the CAC explains who this all-day workshop will benefit.
"This is for anyone who goes backcountry and wants to know the latest information," he said. "You wouldn’t go driving in the snow without preparing first, and just as we prepare by putting on our snow tires to get to the mountains, we need to tune up our minds so we can always make the best judgments we can out there. It’s life and death sometimes."
Avalanche forecasting and knowledge is evolving yearly, Storm adds, and Saturday’s presenters will be sharing the latest information and insights.
"We have people like Bruce Jamieson coming in, who is an avalanche researcher at the University of Calgary. He’ll be talking about practical new tools for snow profile interpretation," said Storm. "We all dig holes in the snow and collect certain things, and he’s gong to help us figure out what are the most valuable things to collect and how to make sense of what you find.
"We have people like Pascal Hägeli, who will talk about the Canadian Avalanche Decision Framework project that he’s working on, and how we’re developing a Canadian solution. It’s exciting new research on how people make decisions, and how they can make better decisions."
One of the most riveting speakers should be Ken Wylie, an International Federation of Mountain Guides Association certified guide who was closely involved in two fatal avalanches in 2003 around Kootenay Park that claimed 14 lives.
Wylie was the last person dug out alive from the Durrand Glacier slide that killed snowboard legend Craig Kelly and six other experienced backcountry travelers. Two weeks later he was part of the rescue crew at Kodak Creek, where seven Alberta school children were killed in a massive slide.
"It was a life-altering winter for Ken, and he’s going to be reflecting back and looking forward at the lessons learned and the insights into avalanches," said Storm.
Another speaker is Grant Stetham, an avalanche specialist for Parks Canada, as well as a mountain guide and inventor of avalanche safety tools.
"He will bring together his years of experience to tie together all the different products that are out there, and all the different research, and he’s going to analyze some real-time terrain to help people travelling up, down and through avalanche areas.
Lori Zacaruk, a sledder and avalanche educator, will discuss the phenomenon of snowmobiles in the backcountry, and how people can do things to keep themselves safe.
Other speakers are John Kelly, the operations manager for the CAC, Clair Israelson, the executive director of the CAC, Jill Fredston, the author of Snowstruck: In the Grip of Avalanches.
According to Storm, snowmobiles are just one of the reasons that we need "made-in-Canada" solutions to avalanche prevention.
"There’s no mountain snowmobiling in Europe," he said. "This is a whole different group of people and way of being in the mountains and travelling through the terrain.
"Another reason is that Canada has these large avalanche centres. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen our bulletins or been online, but we cover these huge regions. The South Coast Region, which Whistler is in, is almost as large as Switzerland, and in Switzerland they have 30 major regions in the same general area.
"So we’re dealing with a large area, and public avalanche safety info has to be regional. We don’t have the resolution, the precision to be more specific, so we rely on people to do things like dig into the snow and make their own assessments. You have to do more than just read the avalanche forecasts."
Climate is also an issue, with very different snow conditions on the coast and in the interior.
So far there isn’t enough of a snowpack in B.C. to create any issues, although Storm says they already have reports of involvements from around the province. As the snowpack gets deeper in the coming weeks, and is impacted by wind, rain, snow, and changing temperatures, the risk will increase, as will the difficulty of analyzing conditions.
There has already been one fatality this year in Colorado, involving a 32-year-old snowboarder from Denver. He was buried under more than a metre of snow, and was not wearing an avalanche transceiver at the time.
The last two workshops hosted by the CAC have been well attended, says Storm, but he would like to see more average backcountry users in the audience.
"After last year we had people who were experienced mountain guides come up to us and thank us, telling us that they’ve learned a lot. That’s great because no matter how much you think you know you can always learn something new (from the speakers)," he said.
"We’re also looking for the people out there who head to the hills when it snows, know a little about avalanches and are sort of leaders in the backcountry – not always professional leaders, but the guy or girl who goes out with their buddies, and the buddies say ‘what should we do now? Is this a good idea?’
"Those kind of people will get a lot out of this, and it might save some lives."
According to Storm about 90 per cent of all avalanche incidents are human triggered, but there’s still "a disconnect between what people see as risk and the reality of what’s out there. These things don’t come out of nowhere."
The CAC decided on the title "Outsmart the Dragon: Avalanche Risk in a Changing World" by making the comparison to a knight – when you take on a dragon you need your armor, sword and shield (or in avalanche terms your transceiver, probe and shovel) but you also need to be cunning, knowledgeable about dragons, pick your time, and plan your attack carefully, says Storm.
"If you’re going to slay the dragons, ride those slopes, then you need to outsmart them. They’re bigger than you are."
The cost is $40 general admission, or $20 for students. CAC members get 10 per cent off. Tickets are available online at www.avalanche.ca , at Mountain Equipment Co-op, or at the door. Doors open at 9 a.m.
