Riskier snowpack conditions at lower elevations in Rogers Pass triggered some close calls for backcountry users this past weekend, including a splitboarder who broke his foot in an avalanche Monday.
The Feb. 16 incident saw the visitor trigger a Size 2 snowslide in the treeline right under his feet, before it carried him 100 metres down the Cougar Creek East avalanche path, according to a Mountain Information Network (MIN) report submitted to Avalanche Canada.
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The boarder struck several small trees before breaking his right foot, injuring his knee and losing his splitboard. Despite his injuries, he and a companion managed to recover the board parts to reassemble and help him return to their vehicle.
“He was able to slowly ride the rest of the run by enduring the pain,” the companion wrote, “then skin to the highway.”
They reported to have visited Golden & District Hospital after, before returning safely to their hotel.
“For others, take care in this area or other similar terrain because we also saw many other collapses on the way down,” the companion cautioned, calling the area “really unstable.”
The Sunday prior, on Feb. 15, a group of six skiers nearly lost one member off a cliff in the North Bowl, near Cheops Mountain.
The skier had triggered a Size 1.5 storm slab avalanche in the treeline, and was dragged down 30 metres but stopped themselves short of riding over the edge.
“New snow is reactive,” one group member posted in the MIN report. “Exercise caution out there.”
Around noon Monday, two more backcountry users had a “close call” skiing Hourglass in Balu Pass.
Their MIN report shared that they triggered a Size 1 persistent slab avalanche below the treeline, which they watched run 30 metres downslope — just above the exit track that skiers were using that day to leave the valley.
“Got complacent thinking we were pretty much ‘off the slope’ and just getting the last few turns in fresh snow before skiing out,” one of the two skiers wrote.
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They added that they’d been aware of two other skier-triggered Size 1 avalanches that came down Friday, Feb. 13, just a stone’s throw away.
“In hindsight, this is exactly where I should have expected the problem to exist, given the information I had,” they wrote. “Ultimately, a good lesson to stay aware of micro terrain features and to not let your guard down.”
Avalanche risk remains higher at lower elevations this week in Glacier National Park. Parks Canada projects considerable risk in and below the treeline into this weekend, but only moderate risk in the alpine.
Recreationists are advised to watch out for surface hoar (layers of frost crystals) and “use caution in terrain that has not seen recent rider traffic — this is where triggering (avalanches) is most likely,” Parks Canada writes.
For the latest MIN reports, visit avalanche.ca.