By Kevin Giles

Between early December and late May the historic Slocan Chief Cabin (SCC) located in the center of the Park is filled to capacity with winter visitors. The visitors, in groups of twelve, use the rustic accommodation of this 105-year-old mining cabin for a week at a time, as a base to enjoy the surrounding mountains for the excellent ski touring opportunities available. The Park is a ski touring paradise that is blessed with an abundance of north facing aspects and cold dry powder that is generally regarded as unequaled.

The Slocan Chief is so popular as a destination for these weeklong ski mountaineering holidays that accommodation is allocated by a lottery that takes place each fall. The visitors stay in the Park in a self-guided, self-catered capacity; they are responsible for their own snow stability evaluation, route finding decisions, and are self sufficient in terms of rescue and first-aid. A package containing information regarding avalanche awareness, hypothermia, first-aid, helicopter safety (each visitor is also given a safety briefing by the pilot prior to flying) and what to expect at the cabin etc. is mailed to the group leader applicants in November.

Kokanee Glacier Mountaineering, KGMI, manages the winter operation of the Slocan Chief Cabin in Kokanee Glacier Park under contract to British Columbia Parks. Responsibilities include overall administration of the program including the lottery, maintenance of facilities and Park safety and security. The single biggest concern regarding safety for backcountry visitors during the winter is avalanches. For this reason we endeavor to provide winter users with any information available so they can make wise, self-guided, ski touring decisions.

Canadian Avalanche Association

(Our guiding light)

During the last decade interest in backcountry recreation has increased many fold in western Canada. The Canadian Avalanche Association (CAA) issues a Public Bulletin twice weekly throughout the winter for which there were 800 requests in 1990. This year 4,000 requests for this information are anticipated through the CAA website www.avalanche.ca, by email or from a toll-free number.

The CAA is the premier provider of avalanche education courses in Canada. An initial eight-day course can be followed, after a number of winter season’s gaining practical experience by an advanced eight-day course. Following even more practical experience gained working in the field, the CAA offers avalanche hazard mapping courses of a similar length. These courses are consistently over subscribed, even though additional classes are scheduled every winter.

The winter staff at Kokanee Glacier, (there are two of us, Dave Heagy and myself) have completed these courses and are professional members of the CAA. Because of the demand for these avalanche courses, which were intended for those working in the avalanche industry, the CAA developed new courses for those whose primary goal is winter recreation in the backcountry. The new Recreation Avalanche Courses, RAC, are offered in an introductory or advanced format. Additional courses specifically aimed at snowboarders and snowmobilers have also been developed. At Kokanee Glacier, both the introductory and advanced RAC are taught and available to the Park visitors during their weeklong stay.

The Canadian Avalanche Association coordinates an Industry Information Exchange, (INFOEX) where snow safety operations throughout Western Canada exchange daily snowpack observations. Each contributing operation send their daily observations to the CAA where they are combined into one report, then sent back to each operation. The INFOEX allows each operation to take advantage of the observations of adjacent areas to formulate a more complete picture of the current snowpack conditions.

Kokanee Glacier participates in this exchange of information (observations to and from the CAA at Kokanee Glacier are via email by satellite link). This exchange allows staff additional knowledge of current conditions to formulate a prediction of avalanche hazard to pass on to the visitors. Daily observations in the Park include avalanche activity, snow stability tests, weather patterns including new precipitation, high winds, temperature and solar radiation. A climate station located at the administration cabin (Ranger A-frame) next to the Slocan Chief records every weather variable, snowpack depth and temperature to a data logger that is reviewed by staff several times daily. Each morning throughout the winter a written report is posted at the Slocan Chief indicating the previous days weather and snowpack conditions, a five-day extended forecast, any weak layer observations in the snowpack and any avalanche activity observed the previous day. Twice weekly a printed copy of the Public Bulletin is also posted at the cabin.

On arrival each Saturday of a new group for their weeklong stay, staff provides an avalanche rescue scenario. Each visitor is expected to participate in a complete scenario of a staged avalanche, from the initial approach to finding one of five buried rescue beacons, to participating in a coarse probe line. This is to ensure not only familiarity with rescue procedures in the event of an avalanche, but competence in the use of beacons and a check to determine that all beacons are working properly.

Each Saturday evening an excellent video on avalanche awareness "Winning the Avalanche Game" is viewed by a guests at the Slocan Chief; "A Race Against Time" a video describing the use of avalanche transceivers is also shown on request. A variety of other avalanche videos are also available for viewing throughout the week on request, but every visitor views "Winning the Avalanche Game". Snow stability tests, especially the "Rutschblock Test" (pic #1) (pic#2) are reviewed by staff on request. Every visitor has the opportunity to take a RAC during his or her stay at a very reasonable cost.

Kokanee Glacier Park’s Search and Rescue Plan is explained on each groups arrival and is filed in a binder at the SCC: RCMP are the initial contact for all incid