Nine people have died in avalanches in British Columbia so far in 2023
Avalanche Canada said Thursday that two people died in an avalanche outside of a ski area near Golden, B.C.
A group of six people—five snowboarders and one skier—were in the Purcell Mountains of southeastern British Columbia in an area called Terminator 2.5 when an avalanche started. Avalanche Canada said there were four people in the group who were involved.
Three people were buried by the avalanche. One was only partly buried and had to be dug out. Two were buried all the way and did not make it.
B.C. Emergency Health Services said they got a call about an avalanche southwest of the Kicking Horse Ski Hill just before noon on Thursday. Four ambulances came, and paramedics took one patient in stable condition to the hospital.
A second group of snowboarders who were further down the track when the avalanche started were hit by the slide but were not hurt.
Avalanche Canada said that the Size 3.5 avalanche was 115 meters wide and 950 meters long, with a crown depth of 1.5 meters. It “ran on a weak layer of facets near the bottom of the snowpack,” they added.
Avalanche Canada said Thursday on social media that the snowpack in the interior of British Columbia is still very complicated and hard to deal with.
“Deep, long-lasting slab problems might not show any signs of instability before they cause a big avalanche.” “Most likely to set them off are steep, rocky slopes with thin or changing snow cover.”
The latest deaths bring the total number of deaths to:number of people killed by avalanches in B.C.in 2023 to nine, including the two backcountry skiers who died Saturday in an avalanche about 40 kilometers south of Tatla Lake, B.C.two off-duty officerswith the Nelson Police Department, who were on a ski trip near Kaslo; an Alberta man who was snowmobiling south of Valemount, B.C.; and a man from Nelson, B.C., who was on a ski trip near Kaslo.Two Pennsylvanian brotherswho were on a guided heli-skiing trip in the interior of British Columbia.