One can only imagine the horror involved in the avalanche incident that claimed two lives on Lake Agnes, Saturday (March 8).
To be out basking in the beauty of the Rocky Mountains, snowshoeing with friends and enjoying the sights, then being caught up in the maelstrom of an avalanche can only be described as nothing less than devastating.
One moment, you’re cavorting on your snowshoes as a group of five, while in the next, two are relatively unscathed after an avalanche, then find themselves searching for, and digging out, those buried under the snow.
Unless you’re a person without a trace of empathy or imagination, you have to feel deeply for the man who tried to rescue his girlfriend, then refused to leave her as safety specialists urged boarding a rescue helicopter before another avalanche swept down.
On the other hand, it’s also not hard to imagine yourself in the place of the Parks rescuers and helicopter pilot – torn between your duty to save the snowshoers and the dread that another avalanche could come down and bury the entire rescue scene.
In a situation like this, rescuers are in as much danger as those they are assisting.
The warning note that highlights this incident would appear to be that, with high avalanche warnings seemingly everywhere, there are few places that are truly safe at all times. This group were not backcountry skiers or snowshoers kilometres deep into the backcountry, high on a windswept ridge or traversing a vast bowl when the avalanche was triggered.
Rather, they were devastated by an avalanche while crossing a small lake near one of the Rockies’ premiere tourist destinations in Lake Louise.
Worse yet, it was just one avalanche-related incident last weekend (see page 4). Two other Lake Louise-area skier-triggered avalanches occurred, as did another in Kananaskis Country, where a skier suffered a broken leg.
Here at the Outlook, we wonder if anything can be done about the avalanche/backcountry situation. The snowshoers in question weren’t equipped with avalanche gear like shovels, beacons, etc., but clearly they didn’t see themselves as being in dangerous territory while on a small lake near Lake Louise.
Being that neither Parks nor the Province has the manpower necessary, or the will, to close vast tracts of backcountry to users as a means of avoiding avalanche issues, and being there’s no law (other than self preservation) to be equipped with proper gear, or to check avalanche warnings, it would appear there’s little that can be done by way of enforcement.
Other than ongoing education programs, which again can’t be made mandatory or enforced, we’re wondering if placing large overhead, solar-powered, cross-highway warning signs might have some effect in reminding those driving to backcountry trailheads, with more or less a slap in the face of messaging, of high avalanche hazards.
Similar signs are in place to remind of seatbelt usage, driving while tired, wildlife on roads and the dangers of speeding – why not reminders that avalanche hazard warnings are off the hook and that lives could be in jeopardy? These could then relate to backcountry skiers, hikers, ice climbers, snowmobilers…
We’re picturing installation of signs on Highway 40, Banff National Park’s east gate and other locations within the mountain parks. If such signs turned around any unprepared backcountry users at all, or directed them to safer areas or endeavours, they’d be well worth the cost.
