After recent avalanches claimed the lives of 2 people at Whistler & Blackcomb, the resort brought in an expert to analyze the snow pack. A few days ago they released the following report on the current and expected conditions for the remainder of the season:

UNUSUAL SNOWPACK COULD AFFECT CONDITIONS ALL SEASON, CONCURS AVALANCHE EXPERT

In light of this year’s unusual snowpack, Chris Stethem, an internationally-recognized snow science authority, was brought in by Whistler Blackcomb in the wake of last week’s fatal avalanches to provide additional insight into the current snow pack. His findings concur with Whistler Blackcomb avalanche forecasters in that there is currently an extremely unusual, and dangerous snow pack.

“We are dealing with a continental snowpack more common in the Rockies. This deep seated instability hasn’t been seen to this degree in the South Coast region since the late 70s,” says Stethem. “It requires backcountry users to tread cautiously, and inbounds avalanche control to be undertaken with extra vigilance.”

This winter season got off to a very slow start with below average snowfall accumulation. A three week cold snap resulted in a layer of loose granular snow on top of a crust that is very uncommon for the region. New snow is building up on this unstable layer. “This has resulted in a deep instability in the snow pack,” continues Stethem. “This instability with lots of new layers will cause the avalanche frequency to increase in the short term.”

Whistler Blackcomb Ski Patrol, avalanche forecasters and operations teams are coming to terms with what this means for the rest of the season. Avalanches are always a concern in a mountain environment; Whistler Blackcomb works to control the occurrence of avalanches but they cannot always be prevented.

“The snow is reacting differently this year, and the avalanche control teams need to approach inbound avalanche control differently after each storm system,” says Doug MacFarlane, Whistler Blackcomb’s mountain manager. “Ski Patrol records where slides are triggered from explosive testing, and pinpoints areas that are not sliding, to understand daily and weekly what is happening on the mountains. This approach may mean additional time spent on avalanche control prior to opening terrain for our guests.”

There is also an interesting study being done by an SFU prof, looking at why people choose to ski out of bounds areas. The article also touches on the difference between out of bounds vs. backcountry riders.

Pascal Haegeli says understanding this thrill-seeking group is key to mitigating out-of-bounds activity.

“We’ve observed the characteristics of the out-of-bounds skiers is quite different between different resorts,” Haegeli says.

“And we think that we might be able to help ski resorts more specifically target their out-of-bounds crowd.”

Haegeli, who is currently conducting research for the Canadian Avalanche Centre, says if a resort is dealing with an out-of-bounds crowd made up largely of beginners, simply improving avalanche awareness might be the best strategy.

But resorts dealing with seasoned pros that use resort facilities just to get into the backcountry have a steeper hill to climb.

“Traditional backcountry users, one of their main motivations has been being out in nature,” Haegeli says.

“Out-of-bounds skiers are more motivated with the athletic component of the sport.”

Related Posts:
• 3 More Killed In BC Avalanches
• Solving Avalanches’ Mysteries
• Low Snowpack In Whistler Could Pose Problems This Summer

Tags: Avalanche,Snowpack,Whistler
Categories: News, Safety
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