Valemont incident

[XXX-er]

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/briti...lled-1.6722657

[nickinbc]

N.B. the first photo is a file photo previously used in a CBC news report in 2019! Though they have at least updated today's report to change the caption from the original and very misleading "A remote-triggered avalanche near Valemount, B.C., buried a snowmobiler Saturday morning. (Robson Fletcher/CBC)".

[powdork]

What is a 'managed snowmobiling area'. Does the managing have anything to do with avalanche mitigation?

[BCMtnHound]

What is a 'managed snowmobiling area'. Does the managing have anything to do with avalanche mitigation?

There is a rec polygon along with a access trail under tenure. The area has a warming cabin, the trail is groomed (paid employee), and there is a kiosk at the bottom to collect trail fees and display the current avy hazard and maybe a beacon testing station.

The rec tenure holder can ‘soft’ close an area down but that usually happens in response to an emergency, and not a proactive closure due to conditions (liability reasons for this). The tenure holder does not perform active avy hazard mitigation.

These snowmobile rec tenures in the North Thompson/Robson Valley area are established because of caribou management (general closures) in much of the area, overlapping tenures with heli ski companies, and tourism revenue for the small towns of Blue R, Valemount and McBride. Attempt at maximizing the benefits and minimizing conflicts between all the values/interests. VARDA, the group that manages many of the sled areas up there, is a great organization to work with.

[XXX-er]

Sledding is worth big ( mostly Albertan) tourist dollars in Valemont so the BC gov thros money at these things

https://ridevalemount.com/snowmobiling/sled-areas/

I think they got caught in the Allan creek area but with CBC reporting who knows ?

If it like around here avalanche Canada will have a couple of pro's riding sleds checking things out, road signs with aviy info out but its still easy to kill yourslef

Valemont has a great bike area and a good craft brewery

I've skied Dave Henry lodge a few times

[BCMtnHound]

Sledding is worth big ( mostly Albertan) tourist dollars in Valemont so the BC gov thros money at these things

Not quite accurate. Most of the infrastructure in the sled areas is via donation, with some grant money. The largest costs borne by the govt is maintaining the access structures which in most cases are govt forestry roads, so the money would be spent on the capitol investments (road sub-grade integrity and major infrastructure) anyways. The other big spend is the FTE time in managing the conversations between the tenure holders, First Nations, and the local communities. Of course there are opportunity costs associated with assigning one user or value a greater priority over another in these areas, and those are constantly evolving.

[weibo]

Turns out the victim was a former work colleague, his wife is a friend and a great person. He had a significant outdoor resume and was a solid guy all round. Sucky deal for all involved. The remote trigger was apparently 100m or more away from the start zone.

[BCMtnHound]

Turns out the victim was a former work colleague, his wife is a friend and a great person. He had a significant outdoor resume and was a solid guy all round. Sucky deal for all involved. The remote trigger was apparently 100m or more away from the start zone.

Sorry to hear you are connected to the deceased. Seems the current conditions are not discriminating between those with or without a backcountry pedigree - anything steep and shallow is suspect. Local terrain had a natural cycle on that Nov layer last week, not all has released so it remains lurking for the next loading (happening this week). Stay safe everyone!

[garyfromterrace]

^^
Sorry to hear weibo. Shitty deal all round.