As resorts across southern B.C. get ready to open for another ski season, some operators are cautioning their patrons to be careful about early snow conditions, especially in light of a death this week in Whistler.
Deep powder and new snow conditions at Whistler Blackcomb are believed to have contributed to the death of a 27-year-old Slovakian man who fell while snowboarding in a gladed area and suffocated.
Now, as Big White Ski Resort near Kelowna gets ready to open Wednesday, management is telling skiers to stay out of treed areas for the time being and stick to groomed areas.
“We are reminding people it is early season conditions and to just stay on the runs that are open and stay out of the trees because it is dangerous,” said Natalia Jastrzab, a Big White spokeswoman.
It’s a similar story at Hemlock Resort near Agassiz, which expects to open Dec. 10. Kevin Bourdin, the general manager, said they’re putting up signage to warn skiers to be cautious in the early part of the season until the snowpack settles down around tree wells and diminishes the danger.
Some mountains, such as Blackcomb and Grouse, are already open. Grouse only has two runs, the Peak and Paradise runs open at this point, so there is little danger of skiers falling into tree wells, according to Jody Westbury, Grouse Mountain’s director of marketing and communications.
Mount Seymour also opens Wednesday for afternoon and evening skiing, and Manning Park reopens on weekends starting Dec. 3, and full-time as of Dec. 16.
Apex Mountain near Penticton opens Dec. 10.
The Okanagan mountains report they have alpine bases of 65-70 centimetres. The Lower Mainland mountains all say they have a good, solid base as well.
However, all are bracing for a big dump of snow expected over the weekend, with accumulations of more than 20 cm a day. Most mountains opened around the same time last year, although Hemlock, with a base of 168 cm, is opening about two weeks earlier than normal.
On Monday, B.C. Coroners Service spokeswoman Barb McLintock warned that skiers and boarders need to pay attention to the early season conditions and watch for buried hazards. She said the skier who died at Whistler Blackcomb was skiing inside the resort’s boundaries, but fell in deep snow and couldn’t get his face clear to breathe. More than two metres of snow fell in Whistler last week and McLintock said the bottomless snowpack was the problem.
The phenomenon of tree wells associated with snow-immersion suffocation has been documented by an industry safety group called deepsnowsafety.org, which has developed education and advice for skiers. They warn that such incidents can occur when ” a skier or snowboarder falls — usually headfirst — into a tree well or deep loose snow and becomes immobilized and trapped under the snow, and suffocates.”
