“Size 3 avalanche on Cowboy Ridge this afternoon, seemingly on Dec 9 crust layer. Lucky to be standing next to a helicopter with 5 mountain and ski guides at Whistler Heliport when this happened, and offer assistance on scene. Some lost gear but a lot of experience gained by those involved, no doubt.” –Renata Lewis, MD
CTV News reports there were 11 people in the vicinity of an avalanche on Cowboy Ridge near Whistler Saturday afternoon, including four people who were downslope from the slide. Avalanche expert Wayne Flann described the slide as a size three avalanche that was likely remotely triggered:
“A size three avalanche will basically bury a house, bury a car. It’s fairly destructive. It definitely could kill you. They’re very lucky. I mean, there were two different groups on the slope at the time the avalanche happened, and there were at least 11 people in the area at the time.”–Wayne Flann
The avalanche happened around 3:15 p.m. Four of the people in the area were downslope from the avalanche, three of them were partially buried. Thankfully no one was hurt in the slide. Wayne wrote in his blog about conditions around the area of the incident:
“There’s been a persistent weak layer this year. There’s a crust that’s down anywhere from 20 to 40 centimetres to two metres, maybe even deeper in places, and it’s been a problem all year. When we get these persistent weak layers, you have to be extremely careful about where you go and what you do.”
Be careful out there folks, know before you go, and heed warnings or dangerous conditions. Thanks to folks like Wayne who work tirelessly to provide the public with accurate and up to date condition reports. WAYNE’S BLOG