I had just finished a full day of backcountry skiing with friends on the Coquihalla Summit in the Cascade Mountain range. We were caught in a full on storm with times of very low visibility on Thar peak.
The avalanche rating from the Canadian Avalanche Centre had rated the alpine for high and the tree line for considerable. I was nervous being out in the backcountry with our shear tests showing easy and knowing that we are to stay in the trees as much as possible. We started small and worked our way onto bigger slopes always staying close by the tree unless we were on low angle slopes.
We decided to not venture into the alpine and be satisfied with the lower slopes. When you watch the video at 1:47 sec you can see the earth open up and propagate quickly as I turn left to avoid a small avalanche. This was not a big avalanche but a real strong warning sine that we should change our terrain.
Driving back home I soon came to realize that we were playing with death and how I should pay more attention and catch the warning signs sooner.
That night I was awaken from my sleep in a cold sweat for I had a dream. I dreamt that I was Backcountry skiing on the Thar peak receiving the words of John Baldwin (The author of Exploring the Coast Mountains(The Bible)) This dream was disturbing and I could not sleep so I wrote down the words and for your own interpretation.
