How to use the AVALUATOR Trip Planner
In order to use the Trip Planner of the AVALUATOR properly we need two pieces of information: the avalanche danger rating and a terrain rating.
To obtain the Avalanche Danger Rating we need to obtain the Public Avalanche Bulletin and choose the hazard rating of the elevation band and day that we wish to travel on. NOTE that if we are traveling below tree-line and our choice is challenging or complex terrain then we must choose the highest level of predicted avalanche danger. i.e. if danger is rated as Considerable, Considerable, Moderate we would need to use Considerable as the highest rating of danger even though the below tree line rating is only moderate. The assumption is that most challenging and complex avalanche terrain has exposure to upper elevations.
Next we need the Terrain Ratings for the areas that we plan to ride. Some of the snowmobile areas have been professionally rated. This means that pockets of some riding areas have been labeled as Simple, Challenging, or Complex Avalanche Hazard.
Click HERE to go to the On-Line Trip Planning Tool. If you indicate that your activity is ‘snowmobile riding’ the chart below will open up with all the riding areas that have been rated for the Bulletin Region that you have selected.
BE SURE TO CLICK ON THE SUB-REGION AS IT WILL ‘UNLOCK’ THE TERRAIN RATINGS
I cut and pasted all these terrain ratings to create an Excel spreadsheet. Click HERE to download this file.
Click HERE for more info and to be redirected to the Canadian Avalanche Centre website.
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