PG Avalanche Workshop Preps You To Save Yourself

Feb 22, 2018 | 12:53 PM

PRINCE GEORGE – One hand, that’s all Marty Anderson, from the Prince George Snowmobile Club, could see of his friend after they were buried by an avalanche 25 years ago. They both survived, but Anderson says “looking back we did a thousand things wrong”.

BC’s Ministry of Public Safety warned hikers, skiers and snowmobilers earlier this month to beware of avalanches. The ministry says search and rescue teams have already responded to more than 160 incidents. 

Today, luck doesn’t play as much of a part for Anderson. He’s planned ahead with a backpack of avalanche gear to hopefully get him out if the worst should happen.

‘Self-rescue’ is the most likely way a person will survive an avalanche, and many of these self-rescues often go unreported. ‘Self-rescue’ is when a person rescues themselves or a member of their party after an avalanche. 

“A lot of times people are embarrassed, they realize they’ve made mistakes, they don’t want to tell anybody, those incidents just don’t get reported” explains Anderson. 

Avalanche Canada is holding a Backcountry Avalanche Workshop at Prince George’s Fore Bistro at 7:00 pm Thursday. 

Overall Anderson says these workshops are an important step when preparing for the great outdoors: “The number of backcountry users is on the rise and avalanche fatality is on the decline, so we have to assume people are getting smarter, making better decisions and rescuing themselves more often”.

 

Click here to report an error or typo in this article