Parks Canada is hosting its annual Avalanche Awareness seminar in the basement of the Jasper Yellowhead Museum and Archives tonight (Feb. 17). 

The free event is to inform backcountry users of all abilities of new avalanche safety research and techniques. The event is linked to the Canadian Avalanche Centre.

Parks is bringing in two expert speakers that will touch on a variety of topics on how to “outsmart the dragon.”

The speakers are Grant Statham, avalanche risk specialist for Parks Canada who will discuss risk-based avalanche forecasting and upcoming changes to public avalanche bulletins. Statham co-ordinates Parks Canada’s liaison with the avalanche industry, and is based out of Banff. He will be joined by Scott Thumlert, who is an applied snow and avalanche research council specialist from the University of Calgary. He will speak about predicting deep slab instabilities, recreational snow pack observations and snowmobile sheer stress impacts. 

Garth Lemke, public safety specialist for Jasper National Park, said the talk will be a good chance for local residents to rub shoulders with experts and avalanche professionals. 

Lemke said the event is usually well attended each year by all types of backcountry users including skiers, ice climbers and more. It is designed for advanced backcountry users to supplement what they already know, but beginners can benefit as well. 

“People with a basic understanding would certainly leave with more knowledge,” Lemke said. 

The avalanche risk in the Jasper National Park has sunk down to “considerable” from “high” in late January, and Lemke said it is still important to have route finding skills and the proper equipment when using out-of-bounds areas. 

So far this winter there have been no incidents within the park boundaries, but Lemke points to several fatalities in B.C. that have resulted from avalanches. He believes poor travel to and from backcountry regions in the park has contributed to the lack of incidents, but the areas are still being used heavily. 

Besides the speakers, Parks Canada has a few other annual avalanche related events that help raise awareness. Parks recently hosted Avalanche Days at Marmot Basin, where staff demonstrated explosive detonations at the top of the Canadian Rockies Express chair and Jasper’s local avalanche dogs did drills for onlookers. This year Parks will not host the annual pub night that usually features a guest speaker, due to the David Thompson bi-centennial events. 

“David Thompson events took up a lot of our resources,” Lemke said. He adds that the popular event will return next year. 

Avalanche certification is available in Jasper through mountain guides Peter Amann and Matt Reynolds. Courses are administered according to demand. 

Statham and Thumlert will speak tonight in the basement of the Jasper Yellowhead Museum and Archives from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.