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Avalanches hit two B.C. resorts
Search continues for missing snowboarder at Big White; no one injured in 'moderate' slide in Whistler
Chantal Eustace and Frances Bula, Vancouver Sun
Published: Sunday, January 06, 2008BRITISH COLUMBIA - Rescue workers at two B.C. ski resorts spent hours Sunday scouring the slopes for anyone who may have been buried by a pair of avalanches.
Shortly before noon, a four-kilometre avalanche partially buried two men at Big White resort near Kelowna, sparking a search of the area by RCMP, volunteers, avalanche-class students and ski patrollers. Neither man suffered serious injuries.
Early Sunday afternoon, a group of skiers on Blackcomb Mountain at Whistler triggered a moderate avalanche, prompting a search of the area by avalanche dog teams and patrol, who confirmed that no one was buried or injured by the slide.
View Larger ImageBig White Resort's Alpine Map, showing Parachute Bowl at the top where the avalanche took place.
Big White Resort
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A Big White spokesman said only one person remained unaccounted for at sunset when the search was called off: a 21-year-old man who may have been in the area snowboarding.
"His friends said he was out snowboarding, but we don't know where," said Michael Ballingall in an interview Sunday evening. "If he isn't located tonight, the search will resume tomorrow."
Ballingall said the two skiers who were partially buried were pulled out almost immediately after the 10:56 a.m. avalanche at Parachute Bowl, just below a cliff at the top of the mountain. Mountain staff had been doing avalanche-control work on a daily basis and had been blasting in the area Saturday.
The avalanche, which covered four of the bowl's 56 acres, was seen instantly by ski patrollers at the top of the cliff above the run.
Ballingall said about 50 people, including avalanche dog search teams, were involved. He said it's the first time Big White has ever had an avalanche during the day while the mountain was open.
Skiers triggered the avalanche on Blackcomb Mountain early Sunday afternoon after the mountain's avalanche patrol had been working in the area to improve safety, said Amber Turnau, a Whistler-Blackcomb spokeswoman.
"It was opened to the public, then skiers were entering the area and released the slide," Turnau said, adding that the area of the mountain has since been closed. "No one was buried or injured in the slide."
It is rare for avalanches to occur on ski hills, said Greg Johnson, a spokesman for the Canadian Avalanche Centre in Revelstoke, explaining that ski hills use things like explosives for avalanche prevention.
"Also, when people ski on snow over and over, they compact that snow," said Johnson. "It's very rare we see avalanches in skier-compacted snow."
But this winter has already proven to be a dangerous one for avalanches, he said, warning that snow conditions have made avalanches much more likely than usual.
"It's above average this year," said Johnson. "This is a difficult type of season."
So far this season there have already been six avalanche fatalities across Canada, three in B.C. - including one on New Year's Day in an out-of-bounds area at Whistler - and three in Alberta.
Things could get worse, said Johnson, since February and March are typically when most avalanche fatalities occur. Last winter, across Canada there were six deaths in total, said Johnson, four in B.C., one in Alberta and one in Newfoundland.
On New Year's Day a 29-year-old man was killed by an avalanche at Whistler while skiing out of bounds.
Meanwhile, search crews in the Cascade Mountains east of Bellingham have recovered the body of a 13-year-old girl who was killed Friday in an avalanche while hiking.
The girl was hiking with a group of six children, ages 12 to 16, and a 45-year-old man, when the avalanche struck Friday afternoon near Mount Pilchuck. The others escaped.
Snow slides have killed nine people in Washington state so far this season, the highest death toll in recent history.
ceustace@png.canwest.com fbula@png.canwest.com
With files from the Seattle Times
