A solo skier who walked away after getting carried half a kilometre by an avalanche Saturday outside Canmore, Alta., unharmed and only short a pole, has provided a "good reminder" about the dangers of spring snowpack conditions, Avalanche Canada says.

The individual was venturing the slopes and powder between Miner's Peak and Mount Lawrence Grassi around 1 p.m. April 26, four kilometres southwest of downtown Canmore, according to a Mountain Information Network (MIN) report by Avalanche Canada.

Zigzagging down Miner's Gully, they'd only made two turns before triggering a size 2.5 avalanche, large enough to bury a person and possibly even destroy a building. It quickly swallowed the snow under their feet and carried them between 500 and 600 metres down the gully, leaving them at the bottom uninjured, not buried and just down a ski pole they'd lost grip of.

The avalanche and the skier's journey with it were witnessed by a recreational climber who called 911 and tried to initiate a rescue themselves. Kananaskis Mountain Rescue responded on scene and confirmed the solo skier was OK, then searched debris in the avalanche's runout zone using a helicopter, external transceiver and RECCO rescue detector device.

With the helicopter on scene, the climber who reported the incident "then left the scene and removed themselves from avalanche terrain." No further information was subsequently gathered by Kananaskis Mountain Rescue - including where the skier's missing pole went.

Avalanche Canada assessed that the slide was triggered on shallow snowpack, then began to collapse into a wet slab as it came tumbling down. The search and rescue response recorded air temperatures between 8 and 12 degrees Celsius.

"This avalanche serves as a good reminder of why it is important to start early and finish early during spring conditions," Avalanche Canada staff wrote in the report. "It is a very clear example how stability can dramatically deteriorate with intense daytime warming. This increases the probability of triggering loose wet and/or dangerous deep persistent and wet slab avalanches."

Another deadly season for backcountry recreationists, Canada has lost seven people to avalanches this year, all within approximately 100 kilometres of Revelstoke.

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