Special avalanche warning issued for B.C. mountains

The Canadian Avalanche Centre has issued a special avalanche warning as conditions in B.C.'s mountains get increasingly dangerous over the next few days.

The avalanche hazard was listed as "high" at the alpine and treeline levels on Thursday for B.C.'s North Columbia, South Columbia, Monashee, Selkirk, Purcell, and Kootenay Boundary mountain ranges.

"We've got a very complex snowpack that has developed over the past two or three weeks, in many areas of the province and it's been very slowly and gradually loaded by new snow and more recently — yesterday — wind," said avalanche centre forecaster Karl Klassen.

Klassen said an avalanche cycle currently underway should stabilize by the end of the weekend.

"I think the stabilization is going to be just enough to hold things in place so you won't see much natural activity, but human-triggered avalanches will become the problem on the weekend, in our opinion."

He warned that when snow stabilizes, as he expects it will over the next few days, that can often be the most dangerous time for backcountry enthusiasts.

"It's when things start to settle down but haven't fully stabilized, that's when we start to get really concerned that people are going to get a false sense of security, and we believe that's going to start happening Friday and over the weekend."

On Wednesday, Klassen said avalanche conditions were so worrisome, enthusiasts were pulling out of the backcountry as early as noon PT.

"A number of experienced backcountry users pulled the plug and came home early instead of spending the whole day out. They were just finding the conditions were almost unmanageable. Certainly they were very concerned about their safety and that in itself is pretty unusual."

Since Saturday, there have been 12 reported avalanches across B.C., with no fatalities, but an avalanche at Mount Evelyn, near Smithers, left a backcountry skier with a torn knee ligament on Tuesday.

The special avalanche warning is in effect from Friday through Monday, and includes the Cariboos, the north and south Columbias, the north and south Rockies, the Lizard Range, the Purcells, the South Coast Inland and Northwest Inland mountain areas.