Those of us who live here, where the mountains meet the sea, are only vaguely familiar with just how dangerous the mountains can be.
But every once in a while, we hear about a terrible tragedy that causes us to get a sense of that danger.
On Sunday, four people were killed while skiing and snowboarding in the mountains of western Washington — just a short distance from here. Three of the four were killed at Stevens Pass, the mountain pass immediately east of Everett.
They were skiing in a group, outside the ski area boundaries but in an area that was not closed off. Basically, it was a “skier beware” zone.
The wet weather that we experienced over the past week caused more than two feet of snow to fall in the area. This snow fell on top of a crust which formed a bit earlier, when the weather had briefly warmed up.
In other words, classic avalanche conditions. Avalanches are something that we hear about a lot here, because there have been dozens of avalanche deaths in B.C. in the past two years, in no less than 20 separate incidents. The most recent death occurred in the mountains outside Kaslo, in the West Kootenays, on Feb. 3.
Avalanches often occur late in the winter, as the days get longer and the sun gets stronger.
Stevens Pass is a particularly black name in the history of west coast avalanches. On March 1, 1910, 96 people were killed in a terrible avalanche that occurred on the edge of the small railway community of Wellington, just a short distance from Sunday’s slide.
Two trains on the Great Northern Railway mainline had been stranded there for about a week, with slides to both the east and the west.
Two years ago, I had the opportunity to hike into the exact location of that avalanche. While there is little direct sign of the avalanche today, and the railway line where it occurred has been relocated, it’s not too hard to get a sense of doom and gloom there.
It is particularly strong inside a concrete snowshed that was built to protect the tracks after the deadly avalanche. It is one of the few remaining links to that era, and was built in the exact spot where the avalanche wiped the two trains, sweeping engines and cars and sleeping people to the bottom of the mountain side.
The rail line there was built on the side of a mountain and much of it was covered with snowsheds, because avalanches were so common. Today, the line is a popular hiking trail, and the rotting timbers of the wooden snowsheds have collapsed in heaps. Yet the sheer slopes of the mountains remain, and it is impossible not to feel the power that exists there when snow falls.
We now have much more advanced warning systems, and in some mountain passes such as the Coquihalla and Rogers Pass, controlled avalanches are sparked to reduce risks to drivers.
But people will always want to get out and experience the wonders of nature in areas as magnificent as the Coast and Cascade Mountains, and there is no reason not to do so.
However, when avalanche conditions are likely, it is a very good idea to keep to the safest locations — and to never forget that mountains, snow and changing weather can prove to be a potent force.