Nov. 30, 2011 - Issue #841: Merry movie night
Fall Lines
Avalanches and BC resorts
Avalanche risk at a high
Three skiers had the ride of their lives last Thursday, after triggering an avalanche on the slopes at Lake Louise. After receiving a much needed 50 centimetre snow dump over a couple of days, the ski hill had proceeded to open additional terrain. The Ptarmigan slope was just one of these newly opened areas and three skiers immediately headed to the top of the knoll just to the left of Exhibition, a steep pitch that follows the Ptarmigan Chair. As they split up and set off down the slope, a slide was triggered. The first skier was unscathed, as he was already far enough down, number two sat on the moving slope, rode it down and then skied to safety and number three managed to grab a tree and hang on. Because it was unclear how many skiers were on the slope to begin with, a full search-and-rescue effort was initiated by Lake Louise. Patrollers probed the site and a certified avalanche dog and handler were flown in from the nearby Sunshine Village Ski Resort. After a thorough search, the slope was declared clear and all skiers safe and unhurt. An in-bounds avalanche is a rare occurrence, but after major snow dumps, anything is possible, especially under current conditions . Backcountry avalanche warnings have been issued for all regions. The Canadian Avalanche Association currently ranks the risk level as high, so take the proper precautions when heading out. For extensive avalanche coverage and information got to avalanche.ca.After an incredible La Niña-like onslaught of heavenly snow, several BC ski resorts are pushing forward their opening dates. Kicking Horse, Revelstoke, Whitewater and Kimberley will now roll their chairs on December 3 and Panorama on December 5—in some cases several weeks ahead of their regular openings. This is all the result of a major storm system that moved through last week, leaving behind 80 – 120 centimetres of the white stuff. In most cases it caught the working teams at the resorts by surprise, but it sure is a lot more fun digging snow out than pulling guns and hoses around to make it artificially. Fortunately, this system did not bypass our Alberta Rocky Mountain resorts and an additional 60 – 70 centimetres of snow has allowed them to rapidly expand their open terrain, with most of the lifts now running.
More stories in Snow Zone »
vueweekly.com comments: powered by DisqusPrivacy Policy:
Vue respects your privacy. We will not forward your personal information to any other organization except as required by law, and will use your e-mail address only to respond to your comments. We reserve the right to edit and remove comments for length, clarity and/or if they are illegal or inappropriate. Your email address is never shown to visitors to vueweekly.com. Read the whole policy at: http://vueweekly.com/privacy
Comments policy
Comments go online directly without first being seen or reviewed by editors at Vue. Don't personally attack people, don't be defamatory, don't be spam-atory, don't hawk your band, don't pretend to be someone else, be clear, be on topic, be nice. Read our extended comments policy here. »
We use Disqus for our comments system. What's that all about?
We found that managing the comment community at Vue was easier to do with a system like Disqus. If this isn't straightforward to you, get help here.