Kootenay National Park of Canada
Avalanche Terrain Ratings
Avalanches are an integral part of the natural cycle in the mountain environment. The potential for avalanches exists on steep and even moderately steep snow slopes throughout the Mountain National Parks Visitors to the Mountain Parks who travel into backcountry terrain that is exposed to avalanches must accept the risk associated with making that choice. The Avalanche Terrain Exposure Scale (ATES) was developed to help you, our visitor, understand the risks that are an inherent element of travelling in avalanche terrain.
Know Your Exposure
While the snowpack changes continuously throughout the winter season, the terrain the snowpack sits on generally does not change. Avalanches don’t happen on flat ground, but they do cascade down steep slopes that run out onto flat and low-angle terrain, so the risk of being in even those places must be understood. The risk that is associated with being in places where an avalanche has the potential to bury you is called exposure.
The ATES is designed to categorize avalanche exposure based on the configuration of the terrain. By using the ATES, backcountry travellers, including skiers, boarders and waterfall ice and mixed ice climbers, will improved their understanding of the type of avalanche terrain that threatens their proposed outing. The ATES works by applying the information provided in the Public Avalanche Bulletins for the park you plan to visit, in combination with Avalanche Terrain Ratings that have been configured for many of the most popular trails and routes in that park. You can then use that information to help you evaluate the avalanche hazard of your intended route, and also to help you select appropriate trip routes and destinations based on the terrain ratings and current conditions. Avalanche Terrain Ratings have been applied to the most commonly travelled destinations located in the Mountain Parks by categorizing them as Simple, Challenging or Complex.
An Avalanche Skills Training course will also help you learn how to identify what types of slopes can produce avalanches under which conditions, and how to travel safely through that terrain.
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