Today’s Poll

Three men die in avalanche near Golden

Nelson Daily Staff
By Nelson Daily Staff
February 21st, 2011

Three men have died after being caught in human triggered avalanche in the Hope River-Mount Gerald area on Saturday afternoon near Golden.

A group of four men — two fathers, ages 48 and 50 years with their sons in their 20s, all four from Halkirk, AB  — were operating snowmobiles in the Hope River back country area located off of the Big Bend Highway west of Golden, Cpl. Dan Moskaluk on Sunday.

“Witness statements have confirmed that the avalanche appears to have been human triggered when two of the four men were high marking and the other two men were observing at the bottom of the slope,” he said. 

“The slide buried these four males.”

A second group of snowmobilers in the vicinity witnessed the slide and responded immediately and located the men. One of the young men from the group was partially buried but was able to free himself. 

The group dug the buried men out and brought them to the surface. One of the males was resuscitated, said Cpl. Moskaluk, however, efforts to revive the remaining three men were unsuccessful. 

“The two fathers and one of the sons perished,” he said.

The surviving member of the group was transported to the Golden Hospital via BCAS for treatment of minor injuries and shock symptoms.

The Golden RCMP and BC Coroners Office are conducting an investigation of the occurrence, said Cpl. Moskaluk. 

Identities of the men are being withheld pending notification of all next of kin and consideration of their requests for privacy at this time.

Sunday update

The Golden RCMP and Golden Search and Rescue team resumed their recovery efforts at first light Sunday morning. 

Rescuers assessed slope stability conditions in the area on Sunday to ensure that rescuers could re-enter the area safely to effect the recovery.

SAR and RCMP along with the BC Coroners Service flew into the Mount Gerald avalanche site Sunday morning at around 9 a.m. The area was deemed safe, which permitted the crews to land and complete the recovery of the three deceased men.

The RCMP had been notified of the incident via the activation of several GPS Spot locator devices by the four men in the area. 

GPS locator devices provide GPS coordinates to a central commercial monitoring company who in turn notify emergency services. 

It was confirmed Sunday that the four men that were buried were wearing personal “transceiver” devices that enable a quicker rescue effort by the other snowmobilers on scene.

“Transceivers are different from the above mentioned GPS locator beacons in that a personal transceiver has the capability of transmitting a signal and also receiving a signal,” said Cpl. Moskaluk.

They work in the following manner: if a person is buried in an avalanche their transceiver remains in the same mode; others not buried by the slide who are carrying transceivers will then switch the mode of their transceivers and are then capable of picking up the signal of the buried transceiver and pin pointing its location under the snow.  

Transceivers are deemed as one of the three essential pieces of backcountry safety equipment along with shovels and probe sticks. 

“In all likelihood the survival of the one of the four men can be accounted to the fact that their transceivers quickened the rescue attempt. It remains unfortunate that the remaining three perished,” said Cpl. Moskaluk.

 

RCMP and search and rescue resources respond to second avalanche

Golden RCMP received a second report of an avalanche earlier on Saturday afternoon (3:30 p.m.) in the Repeater Peak area, north of Golden. 

The avalanche slide may have involved at least two snowmobilers. The Golden RCMP immediately activated search and rescue resources via PEP upon receipt of the report.

“The call was received by a back country skier who said that they saw and heard two snowmobilers approximately one kilometre away in the distance followed by the activation of an avalanche in the area of the snowmobilers,” said Cpl. Moskaluk.

“Once the slide had settled the skier then saw a group of two snowmobilers, however, they could not state whether these were the same seen prior to the slide or not.” 

Members of the Golden Search and Rescue Team RCMP were able to attend the area late in the afternoon via helicopter and spoke to the witnesses and the snowmobilers who confirmed that all were okay and accounted for.

Categories: General

Other News Stories

Opinion