TEAI

AVALAN

New crew is serious about avoiding danger on the slopes

BY CHRISTIANA WIENS

_ TERRACE’ S ministry

of transportation and
highways is sporting a
new four-member ava-
lanche team this win-
ter.

The team, comprised
of Tony Moore, Paul
Hadfield, Johann Slam
and his black lab Bene,
assess avalanche hazards
on. several northwest
highways including
Hwy16 west to Prince
Rupert and Hwy 37
north. —

The dog is one of just
two highways avalanche
dogsin B.C.

Although Moore and
Slam say the initial idea of
doing the same job as ava-
lanche techs Al Evenchick
and Al Munro, who died
while testing an avalanche
near Bell II last winter, can

be daunting, most days they -

try not to think about it,

“We're just here to do
our job,” said Moore, a 15-
year veteran who trans-
ferred into the area from
Stewart after the fatal accid-
ent. +.

He said highways ava-
lanche techs usually spend
one to four days a week in
the field, depending on
weather conditions.

“It’s how we get our best
information,” said Slam.
“We can see natural ava-
lanches and terrain charac-
teristics -by just being out
there.”

When in the field testing
snow. or r triggering ava-

“4
SST

“We’re just’
starting to see the
kind of snowpack
needed for ava-
fanche  condi-
tions.”

= ——

janches, technicians work in
teams of two or three for
obvious safety reasons.

And even though field
work demands a constant
evaluation of their safety
levels — neither of them
considers their job particu-
larly treacherous,

At least not until last
winter’s accident.

Stewart used to being cut off

STEWART residents were cut off from
driving inland Jan. 6 when the road to
Meziadin Junction was considered too

dangerous to drive.

But Stewart residents are used to it.

The snowy highway through the Bear
Pass averages about 95 closed hours per
winter, said Stewart’s highway avalanche

technician, Doug Wilson.

“We've already had two other short
two-hour closures this season — one on
Boxing Day, the other in mid-December.”

Wilson said preventative highway
closures are running slightly below aver-

out ane titer
vas “<0 Both “say *their ‘daily nf

THAT'S THE HIGHWAYS

MINISTRY’s newest ava- schoo! seminars January 20. A fourth member, Paul

lanche technicians Tony Moore and Johann Slam with Hadfield, was unavailable for the photo after spending
the avalanche dog Bene after a day of office work and =a day testing snowpack conditions on local hills.

“That kind of changed
my opinion of things,” said
Moore. “Up until then ac-
cidents were very rare,”

Slam said technicians
have the training and ex-
perience to make safe deci-
sions in dangerous places,

“We're not extreme -

skiers,” he said.

And though both Moore
and Slam are avid back- ”
country ski and snowboard
enthusiasts, neither of them
confuse work in the field -
with their love of fresh
snow.

“This just happens to be-
how we work,” said Slam.

Moore added many iimes —

techs are forced to hike up
an exhausting slope them-
selves, rather than get a
quick drop from a helicop-...
aysb wots bail sele

' grind is'oné third’paper and’ -
computer analysis, one third

driving through the dis-

trict’s vast area from Kit-

wanga east to Prince Rupert

and north to Good Hope

Lake and one third time on

the mountains.

Avalanche hazards peak
here in January and Febru-
ary. Highway 16 to Prince
Rupert is closed and aver-
age of 20 hours per season.

So far, Moore says this
year doesn’t look unusual
even though hazards ha-
ven’t yet ventured outside
of the low range.

“We're just starting to
see the kind of snowpack
needed for avalanche condi-

Students learn of
snow slide risks

CALEDONIA high school students got a chance to grill .
the newest member of the highways avalanche team last
week in a one-on-one session with Johann Slam.

Jessica Lapointe and Claudine Roberts, who both ski
and snowboard, say they appreciate in class demanstra-
tions by the local avalanche tech,

“It’s good information to know,” said Lapointe after
Slam’s quick half hour video, slide and question and an-

swer session.

“I didn’t know anything before,” said Roberts.
The students have been learning about avalanche
hazards in their Earth Sciences 11 class for about a

week and a half.

Students asked questions about haw to what to do if
and when they were caught i in an avalanche, saw graph-
ic slides of avalanches in progress then saw examples of
hoar frost and other conditions that ‘may trigger future

avalanche conditions.

Thé lesson was to be continued at Shames Mountain
the next. day, where Slam, and his dog Bene demonstrat-
ed avalanche rescue techniques.

‘Slam says the students are fairly typical of most high
school students their age who: don’t understand the risks
involved in back: “eountry skiing. . "

of highway between the

age at 17 hours so far this year.

The recent closure lasted from 11:03
p.m. on Jan. 6 to 12:30 p.m. Jan. 7;

Wilson said ministry staff worried
about a treacherous mix of heavy snow-
fall and rising temperatures — weather
conditions known to trigger avalanches,

Ministry staff exploded more dan-
gerous sections of the pass and noted
several large natural avalanches near the
highway during the closure.

Once the snow was stabilized and
crews cleaned up the highway, the pass
was reopened to local traffic.

o 5 7 LG
A'STRING dt af Nechale | Northiggast trléks dot ithe, ‘Shamias M oad where.
a highways avalanche crews set up.a training. session ey Friday ‘The moc
‘Dalneche incident revolved around a set of snowshoes and’ pack that had been’

spotted in avalanche debris,

tions,” said Tony Moore.
He considers the stretch

northwest centres one of the
province’s more dangerous
avalanche routes because of
heavy traffic volumes, out-
flow winds and a heavy mix
of rain and snow during the
winter months.

Thirty-five mile, near the
Exchamsiks River is par-
ticularly dangerous, said
Moore. Other dangerous
spots in the northwest in-
clude the Ningunsaw Pass
on Highway 37 north.

CREW MEMBERS dig out one of three people be-
lieved to be buried In the practice session that in-
volved emergency services, the RCMP, ambulance
and the ministry of transportation and highways ava-
lanche technicians. The final victim was discovered by
the highways avalanche dog.

JESSICA LAPOINTE and Claudine Roberts said local avalanche tech Johann
Slam's visit to Caledonia January 20 helped them understand avalanche haz-

The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, January 26, 2000 - A5

CORRESPONDENCE FOR THE TERRACE STANDARD

ards in the area. Roberts Is holding an avalanche warning-level card, .

" ‘get ‘telly defensive.

The Mail Bag

All hype, no action
marked the new year

Dear Sir:

The hype and circumstance has lead us all to
believe that the collapse of the world as we know
was due to a computer that was only as smart as
its maker. Hmmm...

The lights never did go out, the banks did not
freeze all our accounts, and our charge cards never :
ceased to produce goods when used.

We can see how our forefathers did it back in
the alden days, When the sun went down the can-
dies were lit and the day closed pretty much as
usual, with the same demand that was to insure the
next day’s events.

But now at the turn of the year (not century) it
was believed the whole universe was to end be-
cause of a sweep hand on a clock or a liquid crys-
tal display went from 11:59:59 12/31/99 to
12:00:00 01/01/00.

Yes, the VCR still flashed that annoying 12:00
and the planes landed in their usual way, wheels
down, throttle down, and on the proper runways. I
didn’t see anything on the news about anyone
being locked inside an elevator for several days
without food or water.

All that had to be done was to pay somewhere
in the 900 billion range, to correct those nasty Y2K
problems, that were not really problems in the first
place. That must have been Bili Gates’ finest hour
and something we all can be proud of falling vic-
tims to. Shares in Coleman, candles and canned
goods became pricey and major computer systems
had to be retrained to keep from becoming landfill
or boat anchors. Not to say that this shouldn't have
been the case with these one-eyed time consumers |
in the first place. ,

Of course there were some problems as we en-
tered the 2ist century a year too early, knowing
that we had celebrated this without any thought as
to what kind of a party we are to have now that we
have already physically brought in the New Mille-
nnium (sick of that word). There was a fear from
several writers who said the sky was poing to fall
because of the Year 2000.

Well the year 1999 ended and there were no
major meltdowns, atomic clock included. No Rus-
sian missiles landed in our flower beds and a major
portion of the world woke up with a bad hangover °
from over-indulgence that probably lasted all night.

] guess I might as well lock up my bunker until
Dec. 31, 2001 when I’m sure that it will be needed
by my family, but don't quote me on future perils

PS: In reply to Mrs. Roy’s letter dated Jan. 12,
2000 re-read my letter of Dec. 16, 1999.

I made mention that this did not apply to all
young drivers and J did not say anything about new
drivers. If your son or daughter. is. driving like an-
idiot when Mom is not in the vehicle to supervise,

. then this would apply to him or her.

i live in the high school: area and [ guess after.

Seeing; my. child: atmost, struck, by ayyoung: erratifr: i

driver with the big. SN” on the back of. the car, I
If it were your child that was neatly erased by'a |”
driver that had shown disrespect for newly acquired
licence, I’m sure that your view would be a lot

more thought out.
J. R. Gray, Terrace, B.C.

Worried about school

Dear Sir:

i must express my deep concerns for my educa-
tion. I am a grade 9 student at Skeena Jr. Second-
ary. ;

To be blunt, the amount of different teachers
coming and going fram my English class is simply
ridiculous. 1 was supposed to have a teacher that
had been a regular teacher at our school for at
least a few years.

So she goes on medical leave and the school is
totally and completely unprepared. I’ve had at
least, if not more, eight different substitutes come
to our class over the past five months.

Why is the school finding it so difficult to get a
permanent teacher in my English class until my Te- .
gular teacher comes back? Are they aware that I
have learned basically nothing in English so far
this year except for character roles in stories, tapic”
sentences and a little grammar? | would be more
likely ta learn something new in Grade 2 English.

The school may have some reason for the delay.
Which is fine, but in the meantime could you
please keep in mind my education is as stake here.

Natasha Juba, Terrace, B.C. .

A draining issue

Dear Sir:

Mr. Christiansen was quoted in a recent edition ;
of The Terrace Standard as saying “if the Kalum: ’
Hill Road was a real road” then perhaps the cost of
fixing the Kalum Hill after the big slough hap-.
pened could have been three times as much if-it
were done right.

Is Mr. Christiansen a professional engineer spe-.
cializing in geotechnical situations or did someone:
else sign off the work plan? A local gravel. pit-
owner sure got a nice Christmas bonus. I don’t
know if the work done is satisfactory or accept-
able, but having half of the light poles moved to
the uphill side of the road does not exactly instill a
vote of confidence.

Is the city willing to ‘risk manage’ this one or
are we all going to be required to sign off liability
waivers before we travel this road? A local told me
that the reason for this particular failure had some- -
thing to do with the storm drains going from a 12-
inch pipe into an 8-inch pipe. With the inability of.
the pipe to handle the volume of water, a
was imminent. ; a

I can not vouch for the accuracy of this state-
ment, but the city has been less than forthcoming
with a reason why it happened.

Personally .1 think the desire to allow new deve-
lopments has not adequately addressed where the
storm drain upgrades are needed to handle the

flow.

Chris Spans Terrace, BO.

Fans