Daily avalanche updates needed for North Rockies says expert

Snowmobilers and skiers in northern B.C. need daily avalanche updates, not weekly ones, in order to stay safe,according to an avalanche technician.

An avalanche researcher is renewing calls for daily snowpack forecasts for the North Rockies after a man was killed while snowmobilingSaturday morningby an avalanche in theTorpyregion,100 kilometres east of Prince George.

The B.C. Coroners Service identified him Tuesday as 41-year oldAngelo Kenneth Carpino ofPrince George.

Avalanche Canada provides weekly updates for the region, but other areas like Sea-to-Sky, receive daily forecasts.

"Those weekly avalanche forecasts are outdated, sometimes before they are even published," said Andrew Duncan, an avalanche technician and MA candidate in environmental studies and communications at Royal Roads University.

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It's a matter of funding, because accurate snowpack readings require people on the ground.

"There's just not the ...heli-ski operations, the cat ski operations, or people going into the Rockies enough to get an assessment of what's going on withthe snowpack," said Duncan.

But he admits the North Rockies is a difficult and expensive area to monitor

"You're looking at a landmass about the size of Switzerland."

People planning to head out can check snowpack conditions using the Avalanche Canada app, available oniPhone and Android.

To listen to the full audio, click the link labelled:Avalanche technician calls for more frequent updates for North Rockies.