After a Young Life Lost, Are Calgary's Mountains Ready for More Visitors?

[CALGARY, AB] — The mountains are calling. And right now, they're calling with a warning.

Avalanche danger is currently rated high across Banff, Jasper, and Kananaskis Country — and with March historically being the deadliest month for avalanche fatalities in Canada, this is the moment to pay attention before you strap in and head west on the Trans-Canada.

The Death Toll That Should Be Front-Page News

Since December 2025, at least five people have died in avalanches across British Columbia and Alberta. On February 28, a 15-year-old skier was killed near Nakiska Ski Area in Kananaskis Country. Alberta has now recorded 18 avalanche deaths since 2015, and over the past 20 years, March alone has claimed 69 Canadian lives to avalanches — more than January and February combined. The mountain doesn't negotiate, and it doesn't care how good you think you are.

More Boots in the Backcountry, Same Unstable Snowpack

Here's the friction: Alberta's new Plan for Parks, dropped January 28, 2026, is explicitly designed to drive more people into provincial recreation areas like Kananaskis. More access, more infrastructure, more visitors. That's the policy vision. Meanwhile, the snowpack is a mess — erratic temperatures and unpredictable weather cycles are creating layered instability that even seasoned forecasters find difficult to read. The math on those two trends combining is not comfortable.

Avalanche Canada manages daily public danger ratings for Kananaskis and western Canada, while Parks Canada handles forecasting and active control operations inside Banff and Jasper. Both organizations are doing the work. But Avalanche Canada's $25 million endowment from Public Safety Canada — received back in 2018-19 — is projected to run dry by 2030. The federal government's most recent avalanche-related funding announcement? Nearly $500,000 for a remote monitoring project in Nunavik. Not the Rockies.

The Budget Story Nobody's Telling Loudly Enough

Alberta's Budget 2026 commits $275 million over three years for park trails, campsites, and infrastructure. The Ministry of Forestry and Parks gets $102.9 million to keep Alberta Parks operational in 2026-27. Search and Rescue Alberta picked up a $500,000 equipment grant last fall. And the province committed $1.5 billion to Public Safety and Emergency Services overall. These are real dollars.

But specific avalanche safety allocations within those envelopes? Officially: data unavailable. Which means either nobody's broken it out, or nobody's being asked to. Neither answer is particularly reassuring when you're looking at a fatality at a resort ski area — not deep backcountry, not an extreme line. Nakiska.

What You Actually Need to Do Before This Weekend

If you're heading into the mountains — skiing, snowshoeing, ski touring, anything off a groomed run — check the Avalanche Canada forecast at avalanche.ca and Parks Canada's advisories before you leave the city. High danger means human-triggered avalanches are likely. That's not a vibe. That's a technical rating with a body count attached to it.

Avalanche Skills Training (AST) courses exist, and Avalanche Canada has grant programs to make them accessible. If you're regularly in the backcountry and you haven't taken one, you're operating on borrowed time and other people's luck.