Another hot winter has resulted in some of Canada’s worst avalanche conditions in recent memory. Over the weekend, Parks Canada warned against traveling into the backcountry of Banff, Kootenay, and Yoho national parks due to unseasonal warmth that had created extreme avalanche danger. The danger seemed to improve by Monday, when Avalanche Canada downgraded several areas from “extreme” danger to “considerable.”
Avalanche conditions in the Murray Range of British Columbia’s northern Rockies were especially severe. One area included the “biggest avalanche I’ve seen in my career,” said Mike Koppang, an expert with Kananaskis Mountain Rescue. In an Instagram video, Koppang showed the massive debris from the avalanche, which was about 600 feet wide and up to 60 feet deep.
“Wow,” he said in the video. “Big avalanche cycle.”
Another fascinating video from Parks Canada showed snow-covered sections of the Icefields Parkway, which connects Jasper to Lake Louise. An avalanche from Mount Hector had dumped a massive amount of snow across multiple sections of the road.
“Sad part is we Parks Canada do not have equipment to clean it up. A company will be hired to deal with it,” Parks Canada employee Kevin Armstrong wrote in a social media post. He said the video clip was “more for my friends and family back east to give them an idea of our snow pack this year.”
But Canada isn’t the only place seeing increased danger from avalanches.
Fatal Avalanches and Global Warming
This winter has been especially deadly for those venturing into the snowy backcountry of the Rockies.
Lake Tahoe’s snow slopes have seen 15 deaths since January 1. That includes a February incident that killed nine people — the deadliest avalanche in modern California history.
There also seems to be a rising number of fatal avalanches in Europe. At least 99 people have died in Europe since October 2025, according to the European Avalanche Warning Services. That includes at least nine separate incidents involving fatal avalanches, most of them in the Alps. One February avalanche even derailed a train in Switzerland.
In both North America and Europe, rare weather patterns have contributed to the dangerous conditions this winter.
Canada’s severe avalanches this weekend were driven by unusually heavy rainfall this early in the season. The water weakens existing snowpack and increases the chances of big, unpredictable avalanches, according to Parks Canada.
A similar trend unfolded in Europe. Stéphane Bornet, director of France’s National Association for the Study of Snow and Avalanches, told CNN that increased rainfall and looser snowpack had resulted in the dangerous conditions causing increased fatalities in the mountains.
In general, scientists are hesitant to directly attribute specific avalanches or dangerous winters like this one to global warming. However, several recent studies have found that increased global temperatures do increase the risk of avalanches.
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