K-Country specialists offer hours, eyes, well-educated guesses to help keep you alive through avalanche season
Public safety specialists in Kananaskis Country keep constant watch of snow conditions.
It's a daily ritual in the winter months for avalanche forecasters in Canmore to meet in the mornings and look at data collected from four real-time weather stations in Kananaskis Country.
Jeremy Mackenzie, a public safety specialist, says the more information he has, the better he can forecast avalanche activity.
"We have a region that we take care of and every day, we want to analyze what's going on with the snow, what happened with the snowfall and wind overnight, what's happening with the temperatures," he said.
"We're checking for things like what are the bonds between the new layers, and then that leads into our hazard assessment."
Mackenzie says that information is made public through avalanche.ca.
In addition to the data transmitted from the weather stations, the team will make trips into Kananaskis Country to look at the snow and for any avalanche activity.
Avalanche Canada recently upgraded its website with a flexible forecasting model that allows Mackenzie and the team to provide more accurate conditions within the mountain park.
"If we see something today that's different in the Kananaskis Valley versus the Spray Valley, say Highway 40 versus the Smith Dorian Highway, then we can now split that out and communicate that better," Mackenzie said.
"So we're actually going to be able to create different sub-regions within our Kananaskis region bulletin."
Mackenzie says the snowpack is sitting at 80 centimetres now and that's about average.
He says in early November, the snow was wet and sticky and that helped it bond to the ground, but then there were weeks of drought that created another set of problems.
A crust formed on the top layer of snowpack that developed a surface hoar layer.
"It's like a dew on the top of the snowpack," he said.
"Those create problems, so this most recent snow did fall on that layer and it'll just remain to be seen as to what that does for the rest of the winter."
The end of November brings with it -30 C temperatures in the mountain parks and that again impacts the top layer of snow.
"There's a property where snow crystals actually deteriorate in strength in the cold," Mackenzie said.
"They're actually losing water vapour to the sky because of the cold temperatures and we get a crystal that's more sugary in nature, which is called a facet, and facets create problems into January, February, March, if that's the layer on the base of the snowpack."
Public safety specialists say it's important to research a trip into the backcountry well before the outing to learn as much about the snowpack and conditions as possible.
Mackenzie says that will help skiers, boarders and snowshoers to make the right decisions for their abilities.
"You have to really be paying attention all the way through the beginning of the season and throughout the snowpack year," he said.
"We have had several years of relatively stable snow and we don't know what's going to come this year, so we definitely want users to be heads-up on that and be expecting that they may need to change their behaviour. Some of the bigger ski lines and the bigger features, you may need to wait longer or avoid them entirely for the whole year."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Young people 'tortured' if stolen vehicle operations fail, Montreal police tell MPs
One day after a Montreal police officer fired gunshots at a suspect in a stolen vehicle, senior officers were telling parliamentarians that organized crime groups are recruiting people as young as 15 in the city to steal cars so that they can be shipped overseas.
'It was joy': Trapped B.C. orca calf eats seal meat, putting rescue on hold
A rescue operation for an orca calf trapped in a remote tidal lagoon off Vancouver Island has been put on hold after it started eating seal meat thrown in the water for what is believed to be the first time.
Man sets self on fire outside New York court where Trump trial underway
A man set himself on fire on Friday outside the New York courthouse where Donald Trump's historic hush-money trial was taking place as jury selection wrapped up, but officials said he did not appear to have been targeting Trump.
Sask. father found guilty of withholding daughter to prevent her from getting COVID-19 vaccine
Michael Gordon Jackson, a Saskatchewan man accused of abducting his daughter to prevent her from getting a COVID-19 vaccine, has been found guilty for contravention of a custody order.
Mandisa, Grammy award-winning 'American Idol' alum, dead at 47
Soulful gospel artist Mandisa, a Grammy-winning singer who got her start as a contestant on 'American Idol' in 2006, has died, according to a statement on her verified social media. She was 47.
She set out to find a husband in a year. Then she matched with a guy on a dating app on the other side of the world
Scottish comedian Samantha Hannah was working on a comedy show about finding a husband when Toby Hunter came into her life. What happened next surprised them both.
B.C. judge orders shared dog custody for exes who both 'clearly love Stella'
In a first-of-its-kind ruling, a B.C. judge has awarded a former couple joint custody of their dog.
Saskatoon police to search landfill for remains of woman missing since 2020
Saskatoon police say they will begin searching the city’s landfill for the remains of Mackenzie Lee Trottier, who has been missing for more than three years.
Shivering for health: The myths and truths of ice baths explained
In a climate of social media-endorsed wellness rituals, plunging into cold water has promised to aid muscle recovery, enhance mental health and support immune system function. But the evidence of such benefits sits on thin ice, according to researchers.