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<\/p>\nYou can credit last week\u2019s atmospheric river. It brought a large volume of snow at upper elevations and rain at lower elevations, creating high to extreme avalanches hazard in the parks. \u201cSo getting a big result wasn\u2019t unexpected (but) getting a result that big was unexpected.\u201d<\/p>\n
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That\u2019s how Conrad Janzen, a visitor safety specialist with Parks Canada, describes his reaction to watching an huge avalanche cover the Icefields Parkway<\/a> during avalanche control work on Highway 93, north of Lake Louise on Saturday morning.<\/p>\n \u201cThe avalanche itself was close to 500 metres wide and traveled a total distance of about two and a half kilometres downhill to reach the highway \u2014 and then ended up putting a pile of debris on the highway that\u2019s about 250 metres long and six to eight metres high,\u201d Jansen said. \u201cThat\u2019s the equivalent of kind of two football fields and a bit \u2014 and then the height of about a two-story building and really dense, hard, almost ice-like snow.\u201d<\/p>\n Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n The avalanche, near Mount Hector, about 20 minutes north of Lake Louise, was triggered by two charges of explosives dropped from a helicopter by Parks Canada avalanche control experts.<\/p>\n From the air, the true scale of the avalanche is evident, with vehicles appearing tiny against the massive pile of snow.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\tConrad Janzen, a visitor safety specialist with Parks Canada, estimates the size of the massive slide of snow and debris at 250 metres long and six to eight meters high.\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\tCourtesy: Parks Canada\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n The atmospheric river of rain that soaked much of British Columbia last week<\/a>, and resulted in heavy snowfall at higher elevations, created an extreme avalanche danger in much of southern B.C. and Alberta.<\/a><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\tGet breaking National news<\/p>\n Get breaking Canada news delivered to your inbox as it happens so you won’t miss a trending story.<\/p>\n While cooler temperatures since then have mitigated some of the danger, Janzen said similar-sized avalanches were also recorded in the backcountry areas of the national parks, a dramatic demonstration of just how dangerous the avalanche conditions were.<\/p>\n Luckily, there were no reports of anyone getting caught in the avalanches.<\/p>\n Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\tParks Canada expects the job of clearing the hard packed snow and debris from the Icefields Parkway will take until March 28, and maybe longer.\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\tCourtesy: Parks Canada\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re rating it as considerable still in the Alpine, which means human triggering is still likely in certain spots, and moderate at tree line and low below tree line,\u201d Janzen said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe will see another storm arriving Tuesday night and Wednesday, and we could get up to 40 centimetres of new snow in the Alpine with that storm. So, we\u2019ll probably see another bump in the avalanche hazard, possibly even reaching high danger levels in the Alpine for Wednesday and Thursday.\u201d<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\tA Parks Canada official describes the huge avalanche as the \u201clargest amount of debris that we\u2019ve had on one of the highways in a long period of time. \u201c.\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\tCourtesy: Parks Canada\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n Despite the decrease in the avalanche hazard over the past couple days, the Icefields Parkway (Highway 93) remains closed while crews work to clear the snow and debris.<\/p>\n Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n Because there is so much hard packed snow, as well as lots of trees and other debris, Janzen expects the highway to be closed until at least Saturday, Mar. 28, and maybe longer.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is the largest amount of debris that we\u2019ve had on one of the highways in a long period of time,\u201d Janzen said.<\/p>\n![\"Conrad](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/avalanche-9.jpg\")
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