This winter has proven hard and emotional for the Kootenay-Boundary Region, with avalanches taking five lives in the Interior backcountry in just over a month.
Before a naturally triggered avalanche killed three heli-skiers and critically injured a fourth in the Clute Creek watershed last Monday, March 24, two skiers died on March 14 in separate human-triggered avalanches near Alberta's Lake Louise and Mount Black Prince.
Last month, a skier died on Feb. 17 in an avalanche on Kapristo Mountain near Golden, and a snowmobiler lost their life on Feb. 23, in an avalanche at the Forester Creek drainage area near Invermere. Human activity triggered both avalanches and according to Avalanche Canada, the country's 10-year running average for fatalities is 11.
Leslie Crawley, a Cranbook-based forecaster for Avalanche Canada, spoke to Black Press Media about best practices that backcountry recreationists should follow, enabling them to prioritize their safety while pursuing the winter sports and terrain they love. As he stressed at most, it's about being conscientious of the snow conditions around you.
"It's really important to be able to recognize avalanche terrain," Crawley said, recommending backcountry users to spend a few hours indoors learning the basics through Avalanche Canada's online tutorial.
"The next step is to take an avalanche skills training course - an AST," he said.
Anyone interested in taking a basic AST 1 field course can check for programming in their area at .
"The other part to that is getting the forecast," Crawley advised, noting Avalanche Canada's Mountain Weather Forecast is a highly reliable source when it comes to consulting numerous weather stations and meteorologists. "As forecasters, we kind of look at all the different options."
Seven-day forecasts are shared orally and visually at .
Mountain Information Network (MIN) reports are also great ways for backcountry users to read up on recent experiences in the places they're going, and share their own observations to inform others, Crawley said. While Avalanche Canada field teams contribute MIN reports for avalanche-prone areas with fewer visitors, members of the public largely drive the network through their daily backcountry experiences.
"If you're out there and you see an avalanche, you can snap a photo and share that to help keep people safe," Crawley explained.
Exactly how early the risk of winter avalanches subsides, he noted, depends on a region's snowpack and weather. Some mountainous parts of B.C. and Alberta could still be getting snow avalanches by June or July, according to Crawley.
"Springtime's tricky too, because we're still dealing with the weak and persistent storm slabs," he said.
That said, "avalanche danger is much more dependent on short-term weather events" than longer-term winters or climate conditions, Crawley added.
Though winter tends to be a more fatal time of year for the Canadian backcountry, Crawley called spring "quite a dynamic time" when recreationists may drop their guard and struggle to adequately read the terrain. Someone may think a slope won't avalanche because they haven't previously seen it happen under the same conditions, and end up falling victim to human memory rather than paying attention to what's happening this time, he explained.
The bottom line in being proactive, he said, is Avalanche Canada forecasters discourage anyone entering avalanche terrain when the risk for the alpine, treeline and even below-treeline zones is ranked High Danger (4) or Very High Danger (5).
When the risk rating for each zone is Considerable (3) or below, Crawley encourages backcountry recreationists to enjoy the lay of the land safely and responsibly.
"Just need to watch out for snow-covered slabs above," he cautioned users. "That's really key - watching current conditions with what the terrains are."
Avalanche Canada's newest undertaking is launching a dedicated team for Newfoundland and Labrador, which most recently lost snowmobilers to avalanches in 2019 and 2022. The organization has already served the Atlantic province with avalanche forecasting for three years and also works closely with Avalanche Qu茅bec.
Learn more at .