Caution is the keyword for anyone planning to head out to the backcountry in the Cariboo.
“So right now much of the Cariboo region is in the Considerable Danger Rating,” Tyson Rettie Forecaster for Avalanche Canada said, “and looking into the near future that’s likely the rating you’re going to see at treeline and above, and depending upon how the weather plays out over the next 24 hours we may even see that hazard rating jump into a High Danger Rating.”
Rettie added with this dangerous and really challenging snowpack, remotely triggered avalanches are a real concern.
“Anyone heading out to the backcountry, you really want to be looking for conservative terrain. That’s low-angle terrain with no steep slopes above you, essentially non-avalanche terrain. If you have a steep slope above you, just your presence on the low-angle terrain below could be enough to remotely trigger the slope above you causing an avalanche to come down on top of you. So that’s why we’re telling people not only do you need to be riding on low angle terrain, you really have to be thinking about the terrain above you and avoid riding under steep slopes” Rettie said.