BC Banter: Colorado Avalanche Information Center seeks forecasters, snow falls in Montana and New Zealand avalanche kills two

Colorado Avalanche Information Center Seeks Forecaster

BOULDER, COLO. The Colorado Avalanche Information Center (CAIC) is hiring. Posted this week on avalanche.org, CAIC is seeking a permanent, part-time forecaster to work alongside their statewide team of weather and avalanche forecasters. Eligible applicants must have two years professional forecasting experience, web experience and a college degree in physical science, among other requirements including the drive to get up really early, use explosives and spend a heck of a lot of time in the backcountry. Applications are due by August 10 at governmentjobs.com.

July Snow Hits the Mountain West

BIG SKY, MONT. On Monday, Big Sky Resort shared a photo from the summit of Lone Peak, 11,166 feet, confirming that summer in Montana is, more or less, officially over. High elevations from the Tetons to the Beartooths picked up a wet coating of snow throughout the day on Monday, with some lower-elevation locations recording nearly an inch of rain. “In my 27 years as Chief Meteorologist for KXLF/KBZK, I have only reported a few times that snow is falling in SW Montana in July,” Mike Heard wrote at kbzk.com on Monday. “Today is one of those days.”

Monday’s webcam shot from Lone Peak, 11,166 feet. [Photo] Courtesy Big Sky Resort

New Zealand Avalanche Kills Two

WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND Two hikers from Montreal were killed by an avalanche this week while hiking the Kepler Track, a three- to four-day route in the Fiordland region on New Zealand’s south island. According to the Montreal Gazette, the hikers, identified as 23-year-old Université de Montréal students Louis-Vincent Lessare and Éntienne Lemiuex, were found by search and rescue 350 meters below the hiking trail in a field of avalanche debris. The New Zealand Avalanche Information Centre has not published a recent forecast for the Fiordland region. The hazard for Wakana and Queenstown, in the Southern Lake’s region just north of Fiordland, is Moderate and Considerable due to significant recent snowfall.

The New Zealand Avalanche Centre forecast for the southern island’s southernmost regions. [Image] Courtesy New Zealand Avalanche Centre