At least 3 dead, 15 injured after B.C. avalanche

[mntlion]

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNew...b=TopStoriesV2


At least three people are dead and 17 others are injured following an avalanche in the interior of British Columbia.

Among the injured, two are in critical condition, CTV News reports. Several others are still missing and a massive search operation is underway.

The avalanche occurred near Revelstoke, which is in the province's rugged interior, about 200 kilometres northeast of Kelowna.

The slide occurred as about 200 people were taking part in a large snowmobile gathering on Boulder Mountain on Saturday afternoon.

Helicopters and search dogs are currently scouring the area and the mountain has been shut down.

The snowmobiling event is known as the Big Iron Shootout.

CTV camera operator Rod Romano arrived at the avalanche scene about three minutes after the slide occurred around 3 p.m. local time.

"When I arrived there was a flurry of activity" he told CTV News.

"People were digging furiously."

He added that two people were recovered within about 12 minutes of searching.

However, he said that the avalanche was massive, and snowmobiles that were caught in the slide were carried hundreds of metres downhill.

"The debris field was extremely large," he said.

Greg Johnson from the Canadian Avalanche Centre told CTV News Channel Saturday night that the area was hit by heavy snow on Thursday and Friday, which greatly increased the danger of a slide.

"That created a substantial avalanche risk," he said.

Johnson declined to give specifics about the avalanche rescue operation, but he did say that "there is definitely a rescue underway."

The area has been hit with several avalanches in recent days.

"The Canadian Avalanche Centre is issuing a special avalanche warning for the southern Selkirk and Monashee Mountains, the Kootenay-Boundary area, and the Southern Chilcotin Mountains," states a special warning on the Centre's website.

"We've had a lot of close calls recently and, although this new snow will be tempting, the avalanche conditions in these areas will be very dangerous."

With files from The Canadian Press

[nomensteven]

Another article:
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-col...avalanche.html
Sad this happened during a time when a special warning had been issued.

Edit for more articles:
http://www.torontosun.com/news/canad.../13221241.html
http://www.google.com/hostednews/can...Tzv0s_avgi2Oeg
http://www.vancouversun.com/Several+...790/story.html
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/...rticle1499959/
http://www.montrealgazette.com/Sever...808/story.html
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35856395...news-americas/
http://www.ctvbc.ctv.ca/servlet/an/l...shColumbiaHome

[Puffin]

so scary and sad . talk about a multi burial situation. i couldnt even imagine doing a beacon search with 20+ signals - must have been a nightmare. with as many people as there were you'd think that they would have been in a safer spot...

I hope they save as many lives as possible! big vibes....++

[rideit]

Does this fall under Hueristic trap, or Mob Rules mentality?

I can't even imagine the testosterone factor.

Yeesh.

[mntlion]

[Caucasian Asian]

I've seen videos of previous years' Shootout. Serious gong show. I can't imagine that many people buried at once.

[Tye 1on]

+++vibes+++

[f2f]

for those outside of BC, here's where the CAC professionals evaluated the avalanche situation at just two days ago:

[ame="http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2789128#post2789128"]09/10 Southern BC Interior conditions/Stoke thread - Page 23 - Teton Gravity Research Forums[/ame]

[ame="http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2787936#post2787936"]CDN rockies roll call 2009 /2010 season - Page 44 - Teton Gravity Research Forums[/ame]

[mntlion]

I've seen videos of previous years' Shootout. Serious gong show. I can't imagine that many people buried at once.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fIXUcJiXZo"]YouTube- Big Iron Shoot-out 2009[/ame]

[fivefourtwo]

Vibes to those still missing, can't believe another tragedy like this has happened. What were they thinking going out with 200+ sledders while there is a special avalanche warning and the snowpack is clearly very unstable in most areas. Very sad.

[nomensteven]

Watching the news right now, said the debris was 15-20 feet deep.

[Knipping12]

Wow, major bummer. Good luck and vibes to all still missing...

[powbear]

Vibes to all still missing.
With all the avi warnings the CAA has issued, surely there must have been a safer spot?

[Beaver]

Hey, cool. Lets all sit down here in the run out zone & watch some high marking in a naarea where avalanche danger is off the chart.

Darwin at work.

[LeeLau]

per snowandmud.com forum - 60 sleds were hit. Remainder were people sitting at bottom of slope spectating

[powdork]

sounds like the missing currently is in the double digits. hopefully they're just folks who haven't checked in yet.

[wetcoaster]

Clearly a master of tact and wit.

LOL FAGGOTS

[Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer]

Vibes+++++++++++ Very unfortunate.

[ISL]

On-scene phone conversation, RCMP interviews, etc.:

http://watch.ctv.ca/news/latest/avalanche/#clip276243

Edit: the accident thread at the snowandmud.com forum is starting to get some replies from folks that claim to have been there.

I hope that this accident results in continued support for avalanche education - it's the best way to prevent the future from repeating the past....

[Huckin eh?]

What a sad day.
+++++vibes+++++ to all

[skibum93]

Vibes for the missing.
I pray everyone will be found safe and sound.

[kevok2]

That's awful. "Told you so" sounds like a really pernicious thing to say right off the bat, but I think it's necessary to reinforce the seriousness of conditions like that. I can't help but wonder if anyone looked at the CAA reports and said "nope, not doing that." Would have been an intelligent decision.

+++Vibes+++ in any case

[weasel1]

LOL FAGGOTS

Dude...3 people are dead, more missing and injured. These are people. You know, like you, your family, friends, etc.? Would you be laughing if someone you cared about was in that debris field?

Regardless of what you think of their decision-making, a little compassion and respect for people is not unwarranted here. We all do things we look back on and wonder what the hell we were thinking.

[Lone Star]

when I see a flyer like the one above, I think organized event. when I think organized event, I think of some sort of public safety precautions taken by the organizers. on one hand I want to say, why would anybody go out there in conditions like that!?? but on the other hand, it's easy to see how so many people would assume it would be a safe site.

sad. +++

[Caucasian Asian]

I think it's safe to say there will be no Big Iron Shootout '11.

Link to the snowandmud thread:
http://www.snowandmud.com/forum/f14/...3-a-28715.html