Don’t most avalanches happen naturally? Don’t fret there is more snow on the way.

It is always easy to point fingers - I do it too- but blaming competent and dedicated staff can sometimes be a little hasty and unjust. So far this year has been Canada’s deadliest avalanche season in at least a quarter century. There have been 10 deaths to date and with a lot of season left the chances of this number rising are grave.

Several avalanches occurred this weekend resulting in four deaths. One of the avalanches has resulted in the questioning of the staffs’ actions at Big White ski resort in Kelowna B.C. But I truly believe that this is completely wrong.

First reason; the staff in charge of maintaining safety on the mountain skied the run (where the avalanche occurred) the night before. They deemed certain areas to have excessive and loose snow and decided to dynamite the area. These precautions are taken only when required and are done to avoid natural avalanches.

Second this is Big White which boasts over 2000 acres of skiable terrain with a summit reaching 7000ft. This terrain is made up of 18% Beginner 54% Intermediate 22% Advanced 6% Extreme. This type of mountain requires skiers and boarders to realize their own abilities and reflect it to that of the runs they can and can not do.

It is impossible at a ski hill like Big White, that is capable of sending 28,000 people up to the top of the mountain per hour (that is insane by the way, I never knew it was that many), to make sure that all those people are doing the runs that they are capable of. Or to make sure that the people visiting from the US, Eastern Canada or East Asia…all have avalanche training.

The way I feel about it, it is sad that people are losing their lives in these accidents and they obviously didn’t ask for it. But blaming the staff when they have done their job just isn’t fair. The big boss of the hill (to lazy to check back to see what his name was sorry) states that avalanches occur most often by Mother Nature as opposed to human interaction. He also said that his people were merely doing what was known to be the best option and something that these trained individuals have done time and time again. So Don’t stop exploring but take the proper precautions necessary is how I see it.

So maybe those ready to point a finger at the staff would redirect it to Mother Nature as it was most likely a natural slide or toward those who would continue to pollute at an alarming rate that has left our snow with a different consistency it once had before our climatic changes.

But there is some great news for us in the east is that the weather is changing. So until I can get out West or to Colorado or Utah this screen shot makes me happy. The forecast looks promising for the slopes: