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Key Words: Avalanche,Ski Area,Management
ABSTRACT
Avalanche control operations at the Lake Louise Ski Area
havea historyspanning nearlythirtyyears.Originallya
small resort which did not extend above treeline,the ski
area grew to include many avalanchepaths on all aspects
and elevation zones.
Forover20 years avalanchecontrol services were pro-
vided by Banff National Park Wardens.The Warden Serv-
ice continuallyimproved andupgradedtheprogrammeand
it grew to be highly respectedwithin the industry. In 1988,
however, theLakeLouise ski areainitiated aprocesswhich
handed control of the operation from the Warden Service
toskiareaemployedSnowSafetystaff.Thispaper
discusses the new avalanche control programme at Lake
Louisethe challenges ofcreating an operationthat suits
the requirements of ski area guests, management and staff.
In 1930 The Ski Club of theCanadianRockiesbuilt Skoki
Lodgein thebackcountryeastofLake Louise.Thiswas
the first step towards what was to become the Lake Louise
Ski Area now located on Mounts Whitehorn,Richardson
andLipalianacrossthevalleyfromtheVillage ofLake
Louise.Thecurrent resortleaseareaencompasses 1000
metersofrelief over17square kilometresofterrain and
includes over100 avalanche paths located on all aspects
and elevations.
Three lodges,ten lifts,an extensivesnowmakingsys-
tem and a staff of500provide services to 500,000guests
peryear.Adjacent totheskiarea butoutsidethe opera-
tional boundary, extensiveareasof uncontrolled avalanche
terrain are accessible to skiers froma variety of lifts and
with a minimum of effort.
A cold,relatively thin continental snowpack results in
the formation of significant basal and mid-pack facet lay-
ers throughout the season. Usually covered by hard slabs,
thesefacetlayers presenta persistentinstabilitywhichoften
does not react to normal control methods and is difficult
to forecast.
Avalanchecontrol at LakeLouisebeganin thelate1960s,
with the Banff National Park Warden Service providing all
services. Initially this was a small operation involving just
afewpaths.Asmoreliftswereadded,goingtohigher
elevations,the control programme grew as well.Warden
ClairIsraelson became the Avalanche Forecaster in 1972
and remained in that position until the spring of 1990.In
thattime,Clairformedasnowresearchandavalanche
control programme which was well known in the industry
forits effectiveness.
In 1978 the ski area decidedit was in it's own best inter-
est to have a presenceon the avalanche control team. As a
result,fourskipatrollerswereattachedtotheWarden
operation.At this point,the ski area paid the wages of its
four avalanche control staff, half the wages of the six War-
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dens posted at the hill,the entire cost of explosives and a
capital depreciation rate on allequipment used,such as
explosives magazines and avalaunchers.
Ten years later,in 1988,skiarea management began a
process aimed at attaining complete control of the opera-
tion. This was essentially a political decision, taken dueto
various disagreements between the twoparties,many of
whichhad nothingtodowithavalanche control.Thus,
the scenewas set for the Wardenprogramme to evolve into
one which would need to be more accountable to the ski
area and its guests.
Two years were needed forthe changeoverto be fully
completed.Initially,themajorproblemconcerned staff-
ing.For some time the Ski Patrol had experienced a high
turnoverrate and no formaltraining programme existed.
As a result only the fourpatrollers working with the War-
dens had any significant avalanche related training. This
required hiring staff from outside the ski area to fill posi-
tions in the new programme. WillDevlin, who hadworked
with the Warden Service team formany years,was taken
on in the fall of 1989 as the future avalanche forecaster. By
this time, six ski area staff were working withsix Wardens.
The plan called for a season of "coaching" by the Wardens
to occurbefore the ski area tookover.Although this was
easier said than done, some valuable lessons were learned
and in November, 1990, Lake Louise staff began overseeing
allavalanche controloperationsattheskiarea -justin
timeto deal with the largest single month snowfall ever
recorded at the area!
Manyproblemssoonbecameapparent.Infrastructure
such as office space, radios andweather instrumentation
was not ready in time for such an early and fast start to the
season.Mostof these difficulties were rectified within a
short time.Several longerlasting issues presented them-
selves, however: a newdepartment, called "SnowSafety",
was createdto replacethe Ski Patrol, and its mandate and
structure were unclear. As well, a newly emergingoutlook
present at a modern ski area required a decision be made
astowhetherthenewprogrammeshouldcontinueto
provide avalanchecontrol services in much the same way
aspreviously,orifanewperspectiveonthejobwas
required.
Overtheyears,lowwages,poorhiringpractices and
the disinterested attitude of management towards the Ski
Patrol had resultedin a department which, although made
up of a well-intentioned group, lacked the experienceand
trainingneeded tomeetthedemandsofmodernpublic
safety standards. Once the process of taking responsibility
for avalanche control began to be taken by the ski area, the
Warden Servicestressedthata lowerstaffturnoverrate
and agreater emphasison training was neededto maintain
the present highstandards. This was consideredespecially
important as great emphasis is placed on local knowledge
when assessing stability in a continental snowpack at both
the forecasting andteam leader levels. Tothis end, an Ava-
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