Avalanche Canada is issuing a Special Public Avalanche Warning for recreational backcountry users, in effect immediately until the end of day Sunday, February 10. The warning applies to the Purcells, South Rockies, North & South Columbia, Cariboos, Glacier National Park, the Lizard Range and all the way up to the North Rockies.
Senior Avalanche Forecaster, Grant Helgeson, says a weak layer at lower elevations makes for an unusual situation where the tree-line is more dangerous than the alpine.
Avalanche Canada advises that everyone in a backcountry party needs the essential rescue gear-transceiver, probe and shovel-and know how to use it. Many close-calls involving a weak layer in the treeline have been reported over the past few days. Smaller slopes like cutblocks, roadcuts, gullies and openings in the trees are where the weak layer poses a problem and where it’s primed for human-triggered avalanches.
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