Avalanche activity high in Interior for this time of year
Posted January 10, 2013 9:46 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
HOPE (NEWS1130) – Avalanche risk has made highways in the Interior unusually treacherous over the last few weeks.
Some areas got 100 centimetres of snow over a 24-hour period that wrapped up yesterday, leading to the closure of three highways linking the Lower Mainland to the Interior.
“We’re seeing closures in a place like the Fraser Canyon, two closures in a matter of just over three weeks,” says Ministry of Transportation Provincial Avalanche Program Manager Mike Boissoneault. “That is a higher frequency of avalanche activity in this area that we would normally see.”
Experts had to set off explosions to bring snow down off the mountains.
It’s a sight Boissoneault has enjoyed from a helicopter many times.
“It’s a pretty spectacular perspective to see an avalanche in motion, especially when it hits the highway below,” Boissoneault says. “There’s a great deal of satisfaction in getting good results.”
The Coquihalla and Highway 3 were closed for several hours yesterday after a slide came down.
No one was caught in it.
