Avalanche warning issued for Sea to Sky corridor

Heavy snow followed by warming temperatures is raising the avalanche danger in some parts of the province to high.

Avalanche Canada has issued warnings for today and tomorrow for the mountains on the South Coast along the Sea to Sky corridor throughWhistler.

• Avalanche Canada forecast

"Big changes are hard on thesnowpackand can give surprising results." reads theAvalancheCanada forecast for the Sea to Sky region. "Rein in yourterrainuse and stick to simpleterrainwith no consequence."

Thewebsitestates both alpine andtree lineterrain have a high danger rating.

Avalanche control will close Highway 99 in both directions 50 kilometres north of Pembertonin the Duffy Lake Area today between 10:00 a.m. PT and 1:00 p.m. PT. Updates will be posted on DriveBC.

Interior warnings

Avalanche Canada isalso advising of unusual conditions stretchingfrom the South Rockies through several regions and up to the Northwest regions.

Because the situation is localized, regional avalanche forecastsmay not reflect the conditions in a particular areaand AvalancheCanada is urging backcountry users to be very cautious.

Search and rescue experts are also warning snowmobilers, skaters and ice fishermen to carefully assess ice on rivers and lakes toensure it remains at least 15 centimetres thick for walking orskating, 20 centimetres for groups, and 25 centimetres forsnowmobiles.

With filesfrom The Canadian Press