A Summerland man is warning others to use “extreme caution” in the backcountry after he was partially buried in an avalanche while sledding Saturday morning.
Sam Johnson said he was sledding in the Powder 8 area, southwest of Penticton, with a group of snowmobilers when it happened.
“I grew up riding this area and have never seen an event like this,” Johnson posted online.
The area has seen an unusually large snowfall over the past week.
Multiple slides
Johnson told Global News the group was descending into a gully between two mountains when several slides came down, including one behind Johnson and another in front of him.
He deployed an inflatable airbag he wears as a backpack and tried to sled away from the avalanches.
However, the rushing snow swept his sled out from under him as he jumped towards a tree in an effort to save himself.
He believes the airbag device, which aims to help users float atop an avalanche, is the main reason he survived the ordeal.
“I could feel like small branches and stuff going by me and stuff in the snow when it was sliding,” Johnson said, of the seconds he was caught in the slide.
“If I hadn’t floated on top, I probably would have been in a minimum of four feet of snow.”
When it was over, his lower body was buried but Johnson said the airbag kept his shoulders above the snow.
He was able to get himself out and called to his group to let them know he was okay.
They were ultimately able to dig out his snowmobile and ride out of the area.
Johnson was remarkably uninjured but feels the incident could have easily turned tragic.
Johnson said it was hard riding out thinking about the potential for another slide.
A day later he is still a bit shaken-up, but happy to be alive.
He’s hoping to warn others of the potentially dangerous conditions.
“This is kind of like a once in a lifetime event here. We might never get a snow event like this again,” Johnson said.
Reports posted to the Avalanche Canada website suggest there have been multiple backcountry avalanches witnessed in the general area of Apex Mountain since Thursday morning, including the slides that Johnson was swept up in.
More than 150 cm of snow
Apex Mountain Resort is warning customers that there is a “very high avalanche risk” right now outside of the ski area boundary. It’s advising people not to venture into the backcountry.
Inbounds, the resort is doing its own blasting with dynamite in the mornings after heavy snowfalls to ensure conditions are safe before skiers hit the slopes.
Apex said the province has also done blasting with a helicopter to ensure a slide doesn’t release onto a road.
“We’ve had an incredible amount of snow here in the last six days — about 150 cm plus,” said James Shalman, the resort’s general manager.
“What that means when you have such a heavy snowpack like that, all of a sudden, is there is huge instability in the snowpack layers, which is what we are seeing in our out-of-bounds area.”
Shalman said a recent backcountry avalanche was triggered by an experienced rider who went out-of-bounds at the resort.
However, he said, in that case, the person was testing the snowpack to see if it was stable when they triggered the slide and no one was caught-up in that avalanche.
Shalman described the ski conditions within bounds as “very safe” and “phenomenal.”