Alberta is in the midst of avalanche season and the Province wants residents to be prepared.

The season typically starts in November and runs until April, with Jan. 20 marking Avalanche Safety Day.

Michael Olsthoorm, Public Safety Specialist for the Kananaskis Region with Alberta Parks, says the recipe for an avalanche is the layering of snow.

"A hard layer might be a bunch of snow that's fallen and it's turned into a slab, and it will sit on top of a weak layer which might be a bunch of sugar snow. A dense layer might sit on top of this weak layer but there's not be enough of a trigger to start to make it slide, and that trigger sometimes could be wind or more snow, or a skier, snowboarder, or a snowshoer."

Olsthoorm says prevention comes from being able to spot prime avalanche locations.

"They need to be aware of whether they're heading into avalanche terrain or not and sometimes that's difficult to identify what is avalanche terrain," he says. "So avalanche terrain is anything that's a slope on the mountain side that's right around 30 degrees or more that has snow on it, and sometimes that's hard to identify if you travel into the valley bottom, you might cross a bunch of these paths."

One the knowledge of avalanche terrain is gained, it's recommended travelling with an avalanche transceiver, shovel, and a probe.

Information on avalanche safety training courses along with avalanche bulletins can be found by clicking here.

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