AVALANCHE AND SLIDE-ROCK 287 



where the sun does not strike, they are liable to start at 

 any time." 



In the mountains of southeastern British Columbia, 

 the spring months are beset with perils. The open season 

 for avalanches is from February i to May 15, and during 

 that period many men, sometimes whole parties to- 

 gether, have been destroyed. In the early spring of 

 1905 a bear hunter from New York City lost his life in 

 the Fort Steele district. While crossing the head of a 

 steep slideway, the snow gave way under his feet, he 

 fell, and started an avalanche which carried him down 

 and buried him under an enormous mass of snow and 

 slide-rock. 



Usually it is prospectors and bear hunters who lose 

 their lives in snow-slides, but occasionally a settlement 

 is overwhelmed. The awful catastrophe at Frank, in 

 1902, wherein nearly a hundred persons lost their lives, is 

 still fresh in the minds of all persons who are interested 

 in the great Northwest. 



It is a bold man, and it needs to be a hardy one, also, 

 who goes a-hunting or prospecting in the summit ranges 

 of the Canadian Rockies during any portion of the winter 

 or spring. In my opinion, those high interior ranges were 

 not made for winter use, and it is unfortunate that the 

 best bear-hunting is to be found only at the worst season 

 of the year. In May, after the bears have left their dens, 

 the mountains are yet full of snow, particularly in the 

 valleys and the green timber. Although the majority of 

 the slide-ways are clear, the valleys are a-soak in snow- 



