Backcountry enthusiasts heading out into the mountains this first weekend of spring should exercise extreme caution, the Canadian Avalanche Centre (CAC) advised Friday as it issued its fourth avalanche warning in the last five weeks.
The warning covers the North Columbia-Caribbo mountains, where the danger level has been downgraded from high to considerable for the alpine.
Although that's two levels down from the highest level of extreme, considerable still means dangerous avalanche conditions and requires careful snowpack evaluation, cautious route finding and conservative decision making essential.
"Our main concern is the same weak layer we have been tracking for the past month," said CAC forecast coordinator Ilya Storm in a release.
"Over the past few days, we have received numerous reports of very large avalanches and near-misses throughout the areas affected by the warning.
"We're hearing about people with lots of experience who were surprised by avalanches, sometimes triggered from a significant distance.
"What's significant is that in many of these cases, the terrain was relatively simple. That tells us this weak layer is primed for triggering."
Adding to the situation, the weekend forecast is for clear skies and sunshine in the regions covered by the warning.
"The sun is going to entice backcountry users in the alpine, but at the same time it will have a destabilizing effect on the snowpack," said Storm. "With the current volatility of that layer, this is a potentially deadly combination."
For the forecasts, blog and information on avalanche training check www.avalanche.ca/cac.
