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AVALANCHES KILL TWO ON CLOSED TERRAIN AT WHISTLER/BLACKCOMB

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SAM Magazine—Whistler, B.C., Jan. 2, 2009—Two separate avalanches—in areas closed due to avalanche danger—have resulted in fatalities at Canada’s Whistler/Blackcomb resort. The incidents occurred on separate parts of the resort.

In the first case, a 37-year-old Whistler resident died after triggering a Class 2 avalanche with a three-foot crown, and which buried the skier under approximately six feet of debris. The victim was reported missing on Wednesday; his body was covered on Thursday morning. In the second incident, a 26-year old male snowboarder perished in a slide on other terrain that was closed due to high avalanche danger.

Yet another avalanche occurred approximately 90 minutes after the patrol had opened that particular section of the mountain on Thursday afternoon. There were no injuries reported, and the area was closed after the incident.

The snowpack in the B.C. area echoes the conditions that are responsible for a serious of slides in the Rocky Mountain region. “The current avalanche conditions are unusual for the coast,” says the backcountry report at www.whistlerblackcomb.com. “The skiable lines that have filled in are for the most part where the avalanche hazard is at its worst. Ongoing snowfall and sometimes very strong winds have loaded a variable series of hard and soft slabs over the weak lower snow pack. The underlying weaknesses are already reacting to small loads. Avalanches are being remotely triggered as people are approaching slopes, while lower-angle areas are settling or ‘whumphing’ repeatedly and even after explosives have been used in some areas.”