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As the West gets pummeled by a another storm that has much of the region under a winter storm warning, snowboarder Bryce Bugera posted a video to his Instagram account showing him caught in an inbounds avalanche on the Blackcomb side of Whistler Blackcomb Resort in British Columbia. The area includes a long traverse off the chair, and you can see the slide, which starts as sluff, gains speed and size as it runs into the lower valley.
“This is inbounds off Glacier Chair along the traverse to Grey Zone,” Bugera wrote on his page. “Popped above the traverse and was caught in the middle, thankfully got to my feet and hooked left. Video didn’t catch when I was in the real shit but be careful out there y’all.”
Yeah, that didn’t look great. Bugera wasn’t injured. But this was in a controlled area. Mother Nature is making up for a slow start to winter. In the last seven days alone, Whistler Blackcomb has received 40 inches of snow. So things are definitely popping off in the Pacific Northwest. As we reported yesterday, much of the Western U.S. and Canada will be blanketed in storms this week, with 4-7 feet possible in some areas. Needless to say, storm surfing resorts is in order as the backcountry will be supremely unstable. And as you can see above, even inbounds, things could get dicey in steeper terrain so be aware.
