Experts Warn Against Traveling to Kananaskis Mountains Due to Severe Weather

Specialists have warned Albertans against traveling to the Rocky Mountains over the weekend. According to CTV News, areas West of Calgary experienced more than 30 centimeters of snow fall over last week, with more expected over the weekend.

Matt Mueller, a mountain rescue specialist for Alberta Parks in Kananaskis Country told CTV News that backcountry skiers always see blue sky as an opportunity for outdoors. “It’s as if all the other risks and hazards just seem to evaporate and go away”, he said.

“At times like this, that can actually lead to problem. It’s important to keep your eye on the ball, so to speak, and look at the mountains and what they’re telling you. The way the fall shaped up in early winter is there was a snowfall in Western Canada, and then it was stagnant, nothing happened.”

“We had some cold snaps so that weak basal layer spread through all the ranges.” The experts say that any new snow in the Rocky Mountains is sitting on top of a weak base or basal layer.

Mueller advise anyone planning on a mountain trip, to always check the Avalanche Canada website for the latest conditions of their destination. “Avoiding is critical”, he told CTV News. “It is different, it doesn’t mean we have to stay home, it just means we have to do a bit more research and be really careful with the terrain we choose to use.”

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