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Heliski company addresses B.C. avalanche deaths
The Heliski company responsible for four international tourists killed in an avalanche near Invermere, B.C. is providing a statement to media and answering questions.
Three people are dead and four more seriously injured after an avalanche in the B.C. Interior around noon Wednesday, RCMP say.
A statement Thursday said a total of 10 people were caught in the avalanche while they were heli-skiing in the area of Panorama Mountain Resort near Invermere, B.C., around 160 kilometres southwest of Calgary.
The group was made up of nine skiers and a guide. The clients were all “foreign nationals,” police said, but their guide is Canadian.Â
The three remaining skiers weren’t hurt. None of the skiers’ identities have been released.
RCMP said the four injured skiers, one of whom was the guide, were taken to hospital in Invermere. They are expected to survive.
The slide came down in an area outside of the Panorama resort’s boundaries. The group was on a tour with RK Heliski, a local company founded decades ago.
News of the fatalities came just after daybreak in Invermere, a small community of 3,900 at the edge of the Rocky Mountains. The district is a popular travel destination in both summer and winter for its easy access to the backcountry, including for many Albertans who own second homes in the area.
“Everybody will be quite distressed by this this morning. It’s a very sad thing to wake up and hear,” said RCMP Cpl. James Grandy.
“Unfortunately, this season has just been really horrible for avalanches.”
Around 44,000 heli-skiers hit B.C.’s remote mountain slopes every year, according to HeliCat Canada. The season runs from mid-December through the end of April, employing roughly 3,000 staff.Â
To heli-ski, small groups of skiers are flown by helicopter to the starting point of their ski run on a mountaintop, or transported on a snowcat, a massive vehicle with caterpillar tracks designed to operate on snow and carry up to 12 guests.
A three-run day package starts at about $1,000 per person or as much as $14,000 for a more luxurious private package.
B.C. Emergency Management and Climate Readiness Minister Bowinn Ma offered her condolences to the families of those who died and to those still in hospital.
“Our backcountry is beautiful. It draws people in, it is why a lot of people live in British Columbia, it’s why a lot of people come to visit British Columbia. But as we’ve seen the last couple months, it can be deadly,” she said.
Highly volatile season
There have now been 12 avalanche fatalities in B.C. in 2023 so far, including a search-and-rescue volunteer killed in the Chilcotin region, two off-duty police officers who were on a ski trip near Kaslo and two brothers from Pennsylvania who were also on a guided heli-skiing trip in B.C.’s Interior.
Avalanche Canada has compared this season’s snowpack with conditions last seen in the winter of 2002-2003, when 25 people lost their lives in B.C.’s backcountry, making it one of the province’s worst years on record for avalanche fatalities.
Asked whether access to the backcountry should be closed for the sake of safety, Ma said the federal avalanche agency has the authority.
“At this time, we are in contact with Avalanche Canada and ready to act as advised,” she said, speaking to reporters outside the B.C. Legislature.
“People who are going out to the backcountry right now need to recognize a lot of the deaths that we have seen here in British Columbia were people who were very experienced or were with guides who were highly experienced in the backcountry,” she added.
“We need people to seriously consider and assess the terrain that they’re going into and potentially consider delaying their trip until conditions are safer.”
WATCH | Experts offer avalanche safety tips:
Experts offer safety training as forecasters predict a severe avalanche season in B.C.
Avalanche Canada is warning that B.C.’s snowpack this year is unusually weak and will be more vulnerable to avalanches. A Prince George Search and Rescue group is hoping those heading to the backcountry will take the time to train themselves in case of an avalanche disaster.
Forecasters say this year’s snowpack, with a weak layer of sugar-like crystals buried near the bottom, is to blame for the dangerous conditions.
People heading into the backcountry are urged to check the avalanche forecast and make conservative decisions about which terrain they choose to explore. An avalanche transceiver, snow probe and snow shovel are essential, along with practice in their use, according to officials.
A timeline of avalanche events this season
Dec. 31:Â A skier suffers life-threatening injuries in a slide near Emerald Lake in southeast B.C., near the Alberta border, Avalanche Canada says in a report.
Jan. 5:Â Avalanche Canada warns of a touchy snowpack, with various weak layers created by long periods of drought and cold weather. “Riders have triggered large, scary avalanches with high consequences,” the advisory says.
Jan. 9:Â Two off-duty police officers are caught up in an avalanche near Kaslo, B.C., while backcountry skiing. Nelson Police Service Const. Wade Tittemore, 43, dies and Const. Mathieu Nolet, 28, sustains severe internal injuries.
Jan. 21:Â Nolet dies of his injuries in hospital.
Jan. 21:Â Two snowmobilers riding at the base of a slope near Valemount, B.C., accidentally trigger an avalanche from above, sending a slab of snow onto one rider while the other escapes. The buried rider is found unresponsive and dies.
Jan. 23: Heli-skiers and their guide are caught in an avalanche near Revelstoke, B.C. The two guests, brothers and American businessmen Jon and Tim Kinsley, are dug out of the snow unresponsive and declared dead in hospital. The guide is taken to hospital in stable condition.
Jan. 23:Â A slide comes down on one person near Cherryville, B.C. Emergency health services say the person is taken to hospital with undetermined injuries.
Feb. 11:Â Two skiers are caught in an avalanche on Potato Peak, 175 kilometres southeast of Prince George. Both victims were buried alive and were found deceased by search-and-rescue crews. One of those killed is identified as an off-duty member of the local search and rescue team.
Feb. 16: Three people are buried in an avalanche triggered outside of a ski-area boundary near Golden, B.C. One is partially buried and extracted, while two are fully buried and do not survive.Â
March 1:Â Ten people are caught in an avalanche near the Panorama Mountain Resort, close to the B.C.-Alberta border. Police say three died, while four others taken to hospital are expected to survive.
