JANUARY 30, 2016 10:00 AM PT
MCBRIDE, B.C. — Survivors of a deadly avalanche in northeastern British Columbia looked shaken as they arrived at McBride's airport Friday, shortly after pulling bodies of fellow snowmobilers from the slide, says a search and rescue official.
Dale Mason of Robson Valley Search and Rescue said six men were flown by helicopter from the mountain to the airport, where they were met by police and paramedics. Some were injured and had little to say, he said.
"They all had a pretty bad day," he said. "It's a pretty traumatic event." Five bodies were recovered from the disaster in the Renshaw area near McBride, about 210 kilometres southeast of Prince George.
The B.C. Coroners Service released the identities of the men, ranging in age from 41 to 55, shortly after RCMP held a news conference in McBride, B.C. The men killed were: Vincent Eugene Loewen, 52, of Vegreville; Tony Christopher Greenwood, 41, of Grand Prairie County; Ricky Robinson, 55, of Spruce Grove; Todd William Chisholm, 47, of St. Albert; and John Harold Garley, 49, of Stony Plain.
Cpl. Jay Grierson offered his condolences to the families and said the small village on the Alberta-B.C. boundary was deeply affected by the deaths. "This community is very supportive and welcoming of snowmobilers. We rely on these people to enjoy our community," he said. "People attend the area from all over the world. We develop relationships with them. We see the same people repeatedly because it's a beautiful spot."
Four Groups Caight in Avalanche
Grierson said four separate groups of snowmobilers from Alberta, totalling 17 people, were caught in the avalanche path or buried to some degree, but they have all been accounted for. At least one person suffered a non-life-threatening injury and 11 people were flown out at the time of the rescue efforts, he said.
Mason said survivors pulled bodies from the snow before rescue crews arrived. There were four separate groups snowmobiling at the time, so he didn't know how well survivors knew the dead. "They located and dug them out very quickly. They did an excellent job themselves," he said. Asked how difficult it is to extract a body from an avalanche, Mason replied, "It's sort of like shovelling concrete."
Mason said he had been doing search and rescue work in the area for 30 years and had never seen an avalanche kill so many people.
He described the area where the avalanche occurred as designated snowmobiling backcountry without an in-bounds or out-of-bounds area. He said there was a "considerable" avalanche hazard on Friday and there were warning signs posted at trailheads.
Search and rescue manager Rod Whelpton had been snowmobiling in the area at the time. His snowmobile broke down and he called for a helicopter, Grierson said. Other members of Whelpton’s group went to a ridge nearby and saw that an avalanche had just occurred. A satellite phone was used to call Dale Mason, manager of Robson Valley Search and Rescue.
Mason had just received notification from RCMP of two activations of GPS beacons, which are carried by backcountry enthusiasts in case of emergency, Grierson said. Another helicopter was called and Whelpton and his group responded to the scene. “Many of the individuals involved had self-rescued and four of the deceased had already been dug from the snow,” said Grierson. “The fifth was located and removed as well.”
Whelpton said the avalanche was 700 metres across and about 700 metres long. “There were people in different groups digging people out,” he said. “It was fast, simple. Everybody did the right thing.”
Whelpton said the snowmobilers appeared “very prepared.” He rejected the idea that they went out that day despite the considerable avalanche risk, pointing out that he also believed it was safe for snowmobiling. “It was a very normal day, a nice day,” he said. “There was no avalanche activity in every area that I was playing around ... That was the only one I (saw).”
Avalanche Canada had issued a warning for the region a day before the slide. Karl Klassen, who handles public warnings for the organization, has said it appears the avalanche was human-triggered but he did not elaborate. He said rain and snow over the last few days followed by clearing and cooling on Friday may have produced stresses in the snowpack.
The tragedy has prompted an outpouring of support from the snowmobiling community. Ron Willert, who runs an online forum called snowandmud.com, said the disaster hit "too close to home." "McBride is my backyard, I spend many weekends there all winter and summer," he said in an email.
A leading expert said the window to rescue someone whose been buried is about 10 minutes, as the fallen snow hardens like concrete. Pascal Haegli, Simon Fraser University's research chair in avalanche risk management, said it's nearly impossible to dig yourself out of an avalanche once you've been buried; without proper rescue equipment, chances of survival nearly disappear.
"Once the avalanche comes to a stop, it sets like concrete, very quickly," he said. "It's not the fluffy powder snow you have in mind." People should not rely on search and rescue crews in the event of an avalanche and instead make themselves aware of snow conditions before they go into the backcountry, Haegli said.
He said he hasn't heard exactly what happened in this case, but that human-triggered avalanches can occur when people disturb different layers of snow, called snowpack. For instance, if a thin layer of icy snow sitting on top of looser snow is disturbed, it can cause all the snow to tumble down.
Interim Conservative leader Rona Ambrose and NDP leader Tom Mulcair both offered their condolences to victims' families. Two men were also killed in the McBride area in March 2015. They were part of a group of four Albertans who had been snowmobiling near the community.
Facts About Snowmobiles and Avalanches in B.C.
Here are some facts about previous deaths, a study on the issue and one close call:
For search and rescue, call 9-1-1.
