(Dreamstime)

By rdnewsNOW staff

don't be enticed by blue skies

Avalanche warning extended for Banff, Kootenay, and Yoho National Parks and Kananaskis Country

Mar 9, 2024 | 12:21 PM

Avalanche Canada is extending a Special Public Avalanche Warning for Banff, Kootenay, and Yoho National Parks and Kananaskis Country.

Originally issued Feb. 29, the warning will apply through March 10.

This is due to a variety of weak layers, established in early February, now buried anywhere from 40 to 100 cm deep, Avalanche Canada notes.

After recent storms in this region, the forecast is for clear skies and warmer temperatures in the Rocky Mountains, they add.

“We know backcountry users in this region will be eager to enjoy the new snow from the recent storms, especially under clear skies and sunshine,” said Avalanche Canada’s Forecast Program Supervisor Ryan Buhler. “But the persistent weak layers that we’ve been tracking through February remain very active and easy to trigger. Any avalanche triggered on those weak layers will be large enough to injure and could even kill a person.”

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The forecasters in these regions stress that it will be important to continue to employ careful, cautious decision making this weekend. Users should avoid areas exposed to overhead terrain and stick to smaller, lower angled slopes with less consequence. Do not let the blue skies entice you to drop your guard.

While the special warning is no longer in effect for the rest of Avalanche Canada’s regions, the forecast will continue to urge caution. Backcountry users should always check the avalanche forecast at www.avalanche.ca. As always, everyone in a backcountry party needs the essential rescue gear—transceiver, probe, and shovel—and the training to use it.

The extended warning comes after one person died in a Revelstoke avalanche last week, and a snowmobiler was killed in a northeastern B.C. avalanche in late January.