Terrain, increased traffic heighten avalanche threat

Terrain combined with increasing traffic has raised the avalanche risk in the Canyon Creek drainage north of the Big Mountain, according to avalanche specialist Stan Bones.

However, this year's overall avalanche danger in Northwest Montana is not different from most years, said Bones, who works for the Flathead National Forest and the Glacier Country Avalanche Center.

"In no way can you characterize this as a much more hazardous or much more dangerous winter season," Bones said Wednesday after returning from another day in Canyon Creek, where two skiers were killed in an avalanche Sunday.

There has been an increasing number skiers venturing beyond the ropes at the Whitefish Mountain Resort, dropping from a ridge known as Flower Point, down a north-facing slope into Canyon Creek. Sunday's avalanche flowed into the same bottom area from a south-facing slope with a series of avalanche chutes known as "Skook Chutes." The same bottom area is also heavily used by snowmobilers.

Bones said the slide was triggered after Kalispell skier Anthony Kollmann, 19, hiked up the south-facing slope. He made two turns into his downhill run when a fracture slab broke loose, carrying Kollmann downslope, through trees that caused "massive trauma" that proved fatal.

The slide also buried David Gogolak, 36, of Whitefish, who was skiing through the bottom of the drainage with his brother-in-law, who managed to free himself from the slide debris.

Bones said the slide - and two previous avalanches in the same area - occurred on an unstable "melt-freeze" snow layer that developed during the relatively dry period of October and November. Bones believes the instability in the snowpack at that particular site had been "inching up" for days before Sunday's avalanche. There was substantial snowfall and cold temperatures in the drainage last week, followed by a warming into the mid-20s over the weekend that degraded the strength of the snowpack on top of the melt-freeze layer.

Bones said backcountry winter use in particular areas has been on the rise through western states and in Canada. Increasing use in Canyon Creek, he said, can be seen in the number of ski tracks that can be found on the slopes below Flower Point. Prior to this year, Bones cannot recall any major avalanche incidents in the same area during his career, which stretches back to the 1970s.

Increasing use of the area was also evident in the number of skiers and snowmobilers who responded to the search effort after Sunday's avalanche.

"There was a tremendous response to this accident," he said, noting that "literally hundreds" of skiers and snowmobilers turned out to help.

Bones advises skiers who venture out-of-bounds to understand that they are entering uncontrolled terrain, and doing so requires proper equipment, including avalanche transceivers and sturdy probe poles and shovels. It also requires at least one skiing companion and increased avalanche awareness.

The first step for developing that awareness, he said, is coming "to the realization that avalanches pose a very serious threat. Once you realize that threat, you can begin to develop an understanding of it."

The Glacier Country Avalanche Center offers a series of avalanche courses, with varying levels of training, through the winter. This year's course offerings have been expanded to include one lecture series designed exclusively for snowmobilers.

Bones said there has fortunately been a growing interest and participation in the courses over the years.

Steve Burglund, a search coordinator for North Valley Search and Rescue, said more people are developing avalanche awareness, and it was evident in the efforts after Sunday's incident.

"If this would have happened five years ago, there would have been one-third the number of probe poles out there" involved in the search, Burglund said.

He added that there was also a remarkable number of poles that were not durable enough for the searching in the heavy avalanche debris.

For more information on avalanche courses, contact the Glacier Country Avalanche Center at 257-8204 or check online at www.glacieravalanche.org.

Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by e-mail at jmann@dailyinterlake.com