A Calgary man is dead and several others are injured after a pair of avalanches struck in areas around Golden over the weekend.
Just after noon on Saturday, Feb. 20, police received a notification that an emergency spot beacon had been activated in the Quartz Creek area near Golden.
Golden and District Search and Rescue (GADSAR) was immediately activated and they responded with three members, who were able to locate a group of four snowmobilers quickly.
“From there we were able to quickly transport a single male with injuries back to Golden and District Hospital and at that time we could confirm that one of the males had succumbed to injuries based on this avalanche,” said Shauna Speers, a search and rescue manager with GADSAR.
The B.C. Coroners Service later confirmed that the deceased male was Nicholas Joshua Roberts, 30, from Calgary.
The two other members of the party were uninjured.
GADSAR was deployed again less than a day later, receiving a call indicating that there was an avalanche near Esplanade Mountain involving a large group of skiers.
Two GADSAR technicians responded and assisted a neighbouring backcountry operator with an ongoing rescue operation.
Seven patients were transported to Golden Hospital, including one 34 year-old local who was believed to have been a hired mountain guide on the trip.
The local man and three others were treated for minor injuries, while a 64 year-old Canmore man was transported to Calgary in critical condition and a 58 year-old Calgary woman was taken to Kamloops with serious but non life-threatening injuries.
The group was on a self-guided tour and were staying at Sunrise Lodge, which is owned by Golden Alpine Holidays.
They didn’t hire guides through the lodge, but brought their own guides on the trip. All were experienced backcountry skiers, a requirement for a self-guided trip out of the lodge.
“For self guided, we always ask for and receive a group resume. That’s the most important thing, the age, experience level, and what courses do they have?” said John Bell, the owner of Golden Alpine Holidays.
Avalanche Canada had previously issued a special advisory regarding potentially deadly snow conditions, a warning that was scheduled to be lifted on Monday evening.
“Our public avalanche warnings are designed to try to speak to and help people who are less aware,” said Ilya Storm of Avalanche Canada. “We have many different people who go out into the mountains, there are people who have minimal training…all the way to people who have essentially professional level training skills and experience.”
The avalanche at Quartz Creek was measured as a 3.0 on the organization’s avalanche scale, while the Esplanade avalanche was a 2.5. A typical 3.0 avalanche has a run of 1,000 metres and weights 1,000 tonnes, enough to bury a car or destroy a timber frame house.
A worrisome trend for Storm has been the instances of avalanches affecting multiple individuals at the same time, an avoidable scenario.
“That is the challenge about many people being exposed to an avalanche hazard at one time. In an ideal world we would like to minimize the number of people exposed to an avalanche at once and maximize the number of people who are off to the side and in a safe area,” he said.
Mayor Ron Oszust expressed his condolences to the victims of the weekend avalanches.
“Our thoughts and our prayers are with those who were directly involved and with their families,” he said.
