[MCR] special public avalanche warning

[Public Mountain Conditions Report]

The Public Avalanche Warning Service at the Canadian Avalanche Centre has issued a Special Public Avalanche  Warning for most of the interior of BC. The Mountain National Parks and Kananaskis Country are also in on this warning.

You can see the text of the warning here: http://www.avalanche.ca/resources/cac/attachments/Secial%20Warning%20Jan%2020%202011

In short: deeply buried weak layers in the snowpack are overloaded by recent snowfall and windloading. Natural, explosive, and human triggered avalanches with crowns of 100 – 400 cm releasing on a variety of persistent weak layers and even the ground are being reported. Weather is forecast to improve over the next few days. Natural activity is expected to slow down or even stop but human triggering of large, destructive, un-survivable avalanches is expected to continue for several days at least. Don’t let good weather and a lack of natural avalanche activity fool you into thinking it’s ok to go into larger, steeper, or more aggressive terrain. It is recommended you stay out of avalanche terrain entirely in all alpine areas. At lower elevations stay on small, simple slopes and stay well away from runout zones.

Check here for photos of recent events:

http://www.avalanche.ca/cac/library/avalanche-image-galleries/Avalanches2010-2011

Check here for a map of the areas of concern:

http://www.avalanche.ca/spaw/2011-01-21

Be very careful this weekend and into early next week if you are venturing into the backcountry.

Karl Klassen
Mountain Guide
Revelstoke, BC Canada
karlklassen at telus.net 
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