A Parks Canada official in charge of visitor safety said the avalanche danger was rated moderate and didn’t need updating on the day of a fatal snow slide.
“I reviewed the reports from the previous days. I reviewed partner bulletins from adjacent jurisdictions,” Brian Webster testified Monday at an inquiry into the avalanche death of Spencer Postman.
“Everything I reviewed convinced me this was an accurate representation of conditions.”
Postman, 26, of Canmore died in a skier-triggered slab avalanche on Haddo Peak in Banff National Park on April 5, 2021.
He and a friend were travelling the extreme terrain when the slope slid, carrying Postman over a cliff.
Webster, the manager of visitor safety for Parks Canada in Banff, Yoho and Kootenay national parks, said Postman and his friend should have had the information they needed that day to make an informed decision.
“We forecast all the information we are able to get,” he told an inquiry presided over by Justice Karl Wilberg.
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“I believe they had access and used that information to make an informed choice.”
Wilberg’s inquiry is tasked not with assigning blame but making recommendations on how to prevent future tragedies, including improvements to warnings and communication.
Webster said his office is responsible for gathering information for daily avalanche reports.
“It’s very much like being a detective,” he testified.
“The forecasters get as much information as possible throughout the day and then synthesize that information into an avalanche bulletin.”
He said he believes the information provided by Parks Canada regarding avalanches is sufficient but said it’s important to find multiple ways to get it out to the general public.
“I always question how effective we are at connecting to (online) user groups,” he added.
“It’s a shared responsibility of Parks Canada and the user.”
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