Parks Canada is warning backcountry users about the unstable snowpack in the national parks after a skier was injured recently in a slide he triggered.
It happened in Yoho National Park on Dec. 9. Officials said the skier was carried approximately 350 metres down the slope. While he wasn’t buried, he was injured.
“When that weak snowpack we are dealing with, when it goes you are basically on the ground,” explained Tim Haggarty, visitor safety specialist with Parks Canada. “So this guy was travelling down rocks, bouncing down the path as he went. It was a pretty rough ride, I think.”
It was too dark and dangerous for a helicopter to land, but the crew did toss down a bag of supplies while a team on the ground skinned up to the pair on skis.
“We carted him off into the trees and spent the next few hours setting up tents trying to get the guy warm again,” said Haggarty. “It took a lot of soup and hot drinks and sleeping bags to warm him up.”
Parks Canada is warning others about the low and weak snowpack in the mountains right now.
“The snowpack is as dangerous as ever out here and the days are short right now. People need to be making good conservative trained decisions. They need to be factoring in how long and how much light they have to play with.
“We see consequences of (ill-advised) decisions people make out there. I don’t think people understand just how serious it can get for them out there.”
An ice climber was killed last month in Kananaskis country in an avalanche. It was the first avalanche-related death in the area this season.