More tragedy in the Sea to Sky backcountry showcases the danger of this winter’s snowpack
Experts are urging anyone heading into the Sea to Sky backcountry to practise extreme caution after a problematic snowpack and wind-loaded slopes resulted in a string of avalanches that killed two people and injured several others.
A 45-year-old Sea to Sky local is dead after getting swept up in a slide while snowboarding in Brandywine Bowl on Saturday afternoon, Feb. 13, less than 24 hours after a skier was killed and another badly injured in a size-3 slide on Poop Chutes, on Phalanx Mountain near Blackcomb Glacier.
Those events followed an initial Friday-afternoon avalanche off Spearhead Glacier that severely injured another skier.
That’s in addition to an event that took place in the Supercouloir area near Mamquam Mountain in Squamish on Thursday, Feb. 11. Military helicopter…