Be prepared. This clichéd scouting motto is a literal lifesaver when it comes to a favourite winter pastime in Squamish - backcountry skiing, boarding and snowshoeing.
"Getting ready starts a long time before you walk out the door," said Davin Steif, avid local backcountry skier.
B.C. Parks ranger Jenn Plotnikoff said the key to successful and safe time spent recreating in the backcountry is awareness - and the only way to gain that awareness is education.
"First things first, people should invest in taking an avalanche awareness course," she said. "The biggest problem we run into is people going out without an awareness - then they can't recognize whether they're putting themselves at risk or not."
Plotnikoff has been a B.C. Parks ranger since 2007 and also worked as a volunteer patroller. She and other Garibaldi Park rangers are responsible for maintaining a safe winter access route to Elfin Lakes and collecting information for the Canadian Avalanche Centre (CAC).
"We relay weather data and snow pack data and what we see in the mountains," she said. "We pass it onto them and they can use our information and information from elsewhere to create the avalanche condition bulletins they post on their website."
Plotnikoff is also responsible for organizing Avalanche Awareness Days: two Sea to Sky Corridor events for backcountry enthusiasts, current or to-be, to test out their equipment and analyze snow packs.
She said Avalanche Awareness Days is the first event of B.C. Parks' centennial year.
"It's a real accomplishment," she said. "It's been 100 years that people have been recreating safely in the winter in B.C. Parks."
She said aside from choosing the right partner and getting the proper education, specific avalanche equipment is needed.
"You need the proper equipment, the essential three," she said. "An avalanche transceiver, a beacon and a shovel."
The transceiver is worn on the body and transmits a signal. If someone gets lost or buried, the rescuer can switch his or her transceiver to "search" and it will locate the signal coming from the victim's avalanche transceiver.
Once the area is determined, the rescuer needs to find the victim's exact location and the probe (usually a collapsible rod made of light metal) is needed to find the person physically. The shovel is required to dig the victim out.
"A lot of people assume you can use your hands or your skis to dig them out," she said. "But, in an avalanche, the snow sets up literally like concrete because of the tumbling and the friction, so you really need a good strong shovel specifically for avalanches."
For Steif, having the right equipment isn't enough. He said people often mistake gear for knowledge.
"The beacon/shovel/probe pack is standard and a given - everyone has that, even people that don't know what they're doing, so having partners with the knowledge is the most important thing.
"You come up with a plan with a partner that you trust because that's most important - they're the ones who are going to have to save your life if it ever came down to it."
Steif said avalanche awareness isn't something you can learn online overnight.
"Education is the most important," he said. "Take avalanche skills training level one - it's a basic 2 -day course.
"I wouldn't go into the backcountry with someone just because they have the equipment - you have to trust your life with whoever you're going out there with. That's kind of a minimum for me."
For anyone who wants to practice their skills (and maybe go skiing with Steif), the event at Garibaldi Park in the Red Heather Shelter/Diamond Head area will focus on seeing how avalanche transceivers work and testing people's skills at finding buried beacons.
The event takes place Saturday (Jan. 15) from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and there will be hot drinks, information on avalanche safety resources, latest innovations and a trivia quiz to win prizes. Plotnikoff reminded everyone to bring tire chains as the road to the Elfin Lakes parking lot is steep and icy.
