Alberta: Please stop taking photos on our mountain edges
Digital Reporter
Wednesday, March 21, 2018, 2:03 PM - A photo showing footprints teetering dangerously close to a mountain's edge has prompted a safety warning from Alberta's Kananaskis Country Public Safety.
"We don't often post photos of where people choose to travel in the mountains, but we felt this particular photo was worth sharing," the department writes in a Facebook post.
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"As a basic mountain rule, NEVER walk on a cornice! Especially one that overhangs a 1000 ft cliff ... Use a probe or ski pole to identify where the snow starts to thicken on the good side of the cornice and leave it a wide berth. When they fail, they can pull back and release from what appears to be flat, safe ground. Kind of like having the rug pulled out from under you."
This time of year is particularly dangerous, the agency says, with cornices falling on a "regular basis."
"Avoid being on or under them at any time," the Facebook post adds.
Kananaskis Country Public Safety Specialist Jeremy Mackenzie told the CBC that walking on a cornice "is probably one of the most dangerous things you can do in the mountains."
"A lot of times cornices are relatively hidden. They're not as obvious as you might wish they were, and so any time you're approaching a mountaintop or a ridgeline feature, there is the potential that there could be a cornice there, so don't necessarily trust the snow unless you take that time to evaluate it."
A photo showing footprints (circled above) teetering dangerously close to a mountain's edge has prompted a safety warning from Alberta's Kananaskis Country Public Safety. Courtesy: Facebook
Safety experts suggest avoiding this type of terrain unless you have the proper mountaineering training to detect and avoid cornices, which can be hard to detect.
Sources: Facebook | CBC
