S k i

a n d

B a c k c o u n t r y

O p e r a t i o n s

ally raised charges of elitism but we feel it is important to
havean experienced coreat the centreofouravalanche
operations to track the long term instabilities inherent to
the area. It has also proven beneficial to have these experi-
encedpatrollers roaming the entire mountain on the look-
outforproblemsofallsortsandin positiontorespond
rapidly to various emergency situations.
In addition, there are 5 SeniorPatrollers and 13 Patrol-
lers who have as their primary responsibilities pre-hospi-
tal care and risk management (in the formofrun checks
and trailwork). These 18 people alsoact as avalancheteam
members on a rotating basis whenever needed. Generally
2-5teamsareuseddaily forresearch and control,de-
pending on conditions.
The key tothe current programme now isintegration.
While eachemployee hasprimaryresponsibilities,they
all must be able to help in the other aspects of the depart-
ment to a certain degree. To do this,training and commu-
nicationsareparamount.Thehierarchy nowstandsas
shown in Table 1.
With responsibilities and structure in place, it became
possibletoreviewoperationalprocedures.Inregards to
avalanche control,the Warden operation had as itshall-
marksamethodicaland thorough approachtoresearch,
control andrecord-keeping, employinga well-trainedcrew
with appropriate certification. In spirit, this has remained
the same.What has changed in the six years since Skiing
Louise took over the programmeis the financial attitude of
the company and the expectations of ourguests.
Two years ofdifficult financial timesforthe company
in the early 1990s made cost reduction an overridingcon-
cern. This hasbeen addressed within ourdepartment in
several ways.
As mentioned previously, personnel has been reduced.
The workforce performing pre-hospital care, risk manage-
ment,avalanche control and trail work that consisted of
over40staffspreadoverthreedepartmentsisnow25,
supervised by a single department: SnowSafety. Whilethis
has increasedworkload somewhat, it hasalso allowedwage
increases, in some cases significantly, while keepingwage
costs below previous levels.In addition,schedulingtech-
niques are used to save money as well and staff need little
encouragementto take extra time off when things areslow.
The "bootpacking" crew, which consists of casual em-
ployees who work in return for aseason pass, hasalso been
reduced. This crew packs slopes by foot in the early sea-
son to provide compaction in thin, weak snowpack areas.
This downsizing has happened inadvertently. Originally,
management wantedto open areas as soon as possible for
the marketing benefitsof an early openingdate. After some
debate,areas were bootpacked less and we experimented
in opening slopes to skiers earlier. Traditionally these runs
were kept closed, not because of an avalanche hazard, but
more becauseof bad skiing andoften theywerebootpacked
several times before opening.
Wehavefound that if weopen theseslopes earlier, some
guests,if warned adequately at the base of the lift,do not
mind going into this "bad" snow. This is especially true of
snowboarders who have far less trouble with the problems
ofathinsnowpackbecause oftheextraflotationofthe
board. Wehavegone so far as to recommend certain lifts or
runs for snowboarders only, early in the season. Once they

have provided some compaction, we then recommendthe
areaforskiers as well and persistent deep instabilities are
effectively eliminated for the remainder of the season. We
are now opening some slopes which have smooth ground
almost before there is enough snow to cause an avalanche
problem.With the advent of "fat" skis at ski areas we feel
adequate early season compaction will become even less
of a problem in the future.
Explosives, andhowthey are usedare alsoan areawhere
savings have been gained.A lessexpensive brand ofex-
plosiveshasresultedinsignificantcostreductions.In
addition, 5 - 15 kg ANFO charges are used extensively. It is
utilizedfornearlyallmajorcorniceworkandwhen an
early season or deepinstabilityrequires a widespread,hard
thump.This saves money in two ways:ANFO itself is in-
expensive,and fewerindividual charges are required for
any particular job resultingin fewer hours being expended.
This method also maximizes an instability"window" be-
cause it is possible to hit more slopes in shorter periods of
time.Although accuracy of placement is more important
than the size of charge, a largeblast does give some feeling
of security by covering a large area. Handcharges are used
for most normal explosives work; whenever practicalthey
arepreferabletotheavalaunchersduetohighcostof
avalauncher payloads. Releasing avalanchesby ski cutting
isalsobroadlyusedonsmallerslopeswhensurface
instabilities are forecast.
Lastly, the programme has had to adjust to meet the de-
mands ofa changing attitude in ourguests recently.The
ski area has seen an increase of over100,000more users
per season in the last few years. These skiers and boarders
seem tobe more aggressive in theirsearch forsnow and
themannerin which theyskiand ride.There are likely
several reasons forthis.More Europeans, with a different
tradition of skiing and unused to our system of avalanche
closures, comeevery year. Similarly, snowboarders not only
seekoutsteeperand moreradicalterrain(oftenwitha
disregard for closures) the way they use it puts more stress
onasnowpack.Theproliferationofextremeskiing/
boarding films and magazines also seems to have worked
it's way into the psyche of the everyday skier,again often
tothepointofignoringourclosures.Allthishasput
increasingpressureontheavalanche programme,espe-
ciallyonthetraditionalsystemofpermanent closures.
Otherresorts in North America may have dealt with this
problem earlier; in Lake Louise, with its continental snow-
pack and whose traditional visitorwas a conservative lo-
cal skier,it is a relatively new situation.
The pressure on radical terrain and untouched snow is
not only happening within the ski areas,but in the back-
country as well.This is evident by the increased number
of searches and rescues performed by the Warden Service
and Skiing Louise over the past few years,in terrain adja-
cent to the ski area.
This has raised a complex series of questions:Can we,
orshould we,caterto this aggressiveness? Orshould we
continuewithouroriginalthinkingwhich sayswecan
neveropencertainslopes?Ifwe continuetokeep these
areasclosed can we justify the closure even whenstability
is good?
Traditionally, many of the steeper or more complex pieces
of terrain at the ski area have been closed all season.The

205