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.

After selecting the appropriate Bulletin Region, select “Snowmobile Riding” as your method of travel. Riding areas that have been professionally rated will appear. Now scroll back up, to the colored danger scale chart, and click on the desired SUB-REGION and date. (This choice will need to be reset every time the screen refreshes.)
In the Bulletin Region of the South Columbia you would have to click on the sub-region of ‘The Purcells’, when searching for ratings for Gorman Creek, Golden, BC.
BE SURE TO CLICK ON THE SUB-REGION AND DATE AS IT WILL ‘UNLOCK’ THE TERRAIN RATINGS
If you have chosen the wrong sub-region then the terrain ratings will be blacked out. You will not be able to select them and the interactive star will not appear in the chart on the top right.

Each time that you choose a route or slope from the table, click on the link to the right that says “for more info click here”. Some locations, for example Gorman Creek, do link you to a Google Map. As budgets and forecaster time come available, these links will become more useful.

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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