Avalanche Canada has issued a Special Avalanche Warning for the Cariboo Mountains and other ranges in Eastern BC.
According to Warning Service Manager Karl Klassen, a special warning is issued when certain conditions are in place, such as a tricky snowpack, or a difficult situation that people might not understand very well.
Klassen says rising temperatures are a factor in the warning. “There are a couple of layers in the snowpack that formed earlier in the winter, they’re quite deeply buried, they’re producing large avalanches in the area recently,” Klassen says “It’s going to warm up, and perhaps even get some sunny skies in the next couple days, that warming spell is going to cause those layers to become reactivated”.
Klassen says the recommendation is to avoid any avalanche terrain until the warm spell passes. He adds anyone without avalanche training should avoid steep slopes, have someone with avalanche training with them, or go somewhere the avalanche risk is looked after.