The mountains once again signalled that for all their beauty, they can be equally dangerous for anyone enjoying them after two people were killed in separate avalanches.
On March 14, two avalanches took place within an hour of one another at separate areas in the Rocky Mountains on either end of the Bow Valley. The first was in Lake Louise in an out-of-bounds area near the ski resort at about 3:30 p.m. after two people finished skiing Pipestone Bowl.
In Kananaskis Country, a 34-year-old Calgary woman was swept away in an avalanche and buried in a backcountry area off Highway 742 near Mount Black Prince at about 2,100 metres of elevation.
The tragic incidents highlight the risk mountains can pose to all people.
Though two people passed away, there were undoubtedly several thousand people who recreated in the region.
For anyone travelling into the backcountry in the winter, avalanche training is an essential skill to possess. In addition, equipment such as a portable shovel, airbag packs and emergency communication are more than worth their weight in gold.
Heading into the weekend of March 14-16, the risk was considerable at all elevations but high in the alpine. With 30-90 centimetres of snow having fallen between March 7-13 and temperatures fluctuating between winter and spring for several weeks, it became a dangerous recipe.
Avalanche Canada’s Mountain Information Network – where people can post when they’ve seen avalanches or where an area showed signs of an avalanche – was kept busy with dozens of people making reports.
The map for most of the Canadian Rockies in Alberta and British Columbia was red, highlighting the significant danger the mountains presented.
In the leadup to the weekend, Parks Canada public safety specialists and Kananaskis Mountain Rescue specialists sounded the alarm for the extreme threat of avalanches in the region. Much of the Canadian Rockies was heightened to emphasize the significant danger high elevations posed.
The public safety specialists went above and beyond to get the message out to as many people as possible.
However, the press secretary for the Ministry of Forestry and Parks – whose portfolio includes Kananaskis Mountain Rescue – said due to the avalanche happening late on a Friday nothing would be available until Monday. A basic request on how many rescue calls Kananaskis Mountain Rescue had done since the beginning of 2024 was simply ignored.
The weekend, apparently, does wait for some things and another opportunity to help the public was missed with a focus on what could go wrong for public relations rather than what could go wrong for individuals.
Other services such as police, fire departments, ski patrols, paramedics, STARS, ski resort ski patrol and employees all answered the call, not waiting until Monday in a time of need.
In other areas of the world, and similar to the Canadian Rockies, the risk of avalanches is a reality of day-to-day life in the winter.
Earlier in March, 23 workers were rescued after an avalanche in northern India, though eight people were killed. Three skiers were also killed in Alaska at the beginning of March and two in Colorado at the end of February in separate incidents, with roughly 25-30 people dying from avalanches each year in the United States.
In the 2024-25 winter season, four people have been killed from avalanches in Canada. It’s a large decline from 12 in the 2023-24 season and 15 in the 2022-23.
Since 2000, there have been 304 deaths from avalanches in Canada.
Of course, when adding up numbers from avalanche fatalities one is always too many.
