Avalanche Canada has issued a special warning for recreational backcountry users planning to venture into almost all of B.C.'s mountains this weekend.
After a prolonged drought in late November and early December, the province has been hit with a series of storms that have dropped a significant amount of snow. This new snow is not bonding well to the old surface that formed during the drought.
"Our main concern is that we are expecting the weather to clear on Saturday," the agency's senior forecaster, James Floyer, said. "After all this rain in the valleys, backcountry users are going to want to hit the alpine but that's where the danger is greatest. There's a very weak layer now buried anywhere between 60 and 150 cm. Any avalanche triggered on that layer will definitely be life threatening."
The warning was issued for the North Rockies, South and North Columbia and Cariboos, as well as
the Lizard Range and Flathead, Purcells, Kootenay Boundary, Sea-to-Sky, South Coast, South Coast Inland and Northwest Coastal.
The warning applies to anyone heading into higher elevation - skiers and boarders leaving ski resort boundaries and snowmobilers riding at or above the treeline.
They're urged to carry the essential rescue gear--transceiver, probe and shovel--and know how to use it.
