Fatal avalanche in the Kootenays
Posted March 11, 2014 6:53 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
WEST KOOTENAY (NEWS1130) – A 29-year-old man from Crawford Bay has died after getting caught in an avalanche while snowmobiling with his father-in-law Tuesday afternoon. The two were using a popular route near Gray Creek Pass in the Kootenays between Nelson and Cranbrook.
The 52-year-old man managed to escape the slide and called for help.
Nelson Search and Rescue were called in at around 2:30pm. “We dispatched our member from Nelson Search and Rescue and put four members in a helicopter,” says Search Manager Lou Coletti. Kimberley Search and Rescue was also called in.
Search and rescue crews located the buried man at 5:45pm, and were able to pull him from the snow, but it was too late. “He was buried for probably up to three or four hours. So they performed CPR and used an automated external defibrillator device,” says Kimberley Search and Rescue Manager Peter Reid. The man and his father-in-law were airlifted to a waiting ambulance, but the 29-year-old was pronounced dead when they arrived.
Reid says the men were snowmobiling on a route popular with sledders when the slide hit sometime around 2:30pm. “He was at the bottom of the slope, and he was actually on a logging road. And it looks like when he was turning the sled around to go back down the logging road, the slope above him triggered and took him out.”
Outdoor enthusiasts should be wary, even if they think popular back-country areas are safe warns Reid. “[The area the men were in] would be considered fairly low risk because it’s on the logging road, people that don’t know it that well would think that, but unfortunately that pass is closed all winter because of the avalanche hazard on the roads.”
Avalanche risk in the Kootenay-Bounary area is currently rated at “considerable” above the treeline, with Avalanche BC warning sun and rising daytime temperatures will create slide hazards for the next few days.
