Innovation September-October 2013

f ea t u r e s

Frank W. Baumann, P.Eng. Cornelius Amelunxen

S now avalanches have always been a overwhelmed a CP Rail work crew clearing avalanche debris from an earlier slide in Roger’s Pass near Golden, BC. Fifty-eight people died. More recently, on January 22, 1974, an avalanche 45 km west of Terrace on Highway 16 to Prince Rupert killed seven people at the North Route café and motel. Both of these accidents occurred in well- defined avalanche slide paths and during periods of poor weather and unstable snowpack conditions when the probability of snow avalanche activity was very high and predictable. Left: The Coquihalla Highway in southwestern BC threads its way through numerous major avalanche slide paths. Despite grade and other constraints, the highway was optimally placed with regard to avalanche activity. problem in the rugged mountains of British Columbia. In 1910, the worst-ever accident in Canada occurred when a second avalanche

Above: Risk management flow chart. Encounter probability, consequence and risk acceptability must all be considered when managing risk.

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