RSOE Emergency and Disaster Information Service

Situation Update No. 2

Posted:2010-03-14, 04:02:59 [UTC]

Ref.no.: AV-20100314-25318-CAN

Situation Update No. 2
On 2010-03-14 at 18:15:56 [UTC]

Event: Avalanche
Location: Canada Province of British Columbia Boulder Mountain, West of Revelstoke

Number of Deads: 3 person(s)
Number of Injured: 30 person(s)
Number of Missing: 20 person(s)

Police were going door-to-door to determine who was missing and search crews stood ready to resume their hunt for victims Sunday morning, after a massive Revelstoke avalanche killed at least 2 people Saturday afternoon and injured 30 more. One person is in critical condition and three others are in serious condition in area hospitals, said RCMP Cpl. Dan Moskaluk at a news conference Sunday morning. Helicopters containing avalanche technicians did a reconnaissance flight over the area to determine if the site was safe for ground crews to resume what Moskaluk called a recovery/rescue effort. “I don’t think we ever want to give up hope; there is still faint hope,” he said. He said there was no timeline for when ground searches would resume. RCMP confirmed two were dead and 30 people had suffered injuries at an annual extreme snowmobiling event — the "Big Iron Shootout" — attended by more than 200 people 15 km west of Revelstoke, B.C., Saturday. The avalanche hit the Turbo Bowl area of Boulder Mountain just before 3:30 p.m., as a large crowd had gathered to watch snowmobilers race up the side of the mountain.

Revelstoke resident Clayton Berlingette, who operates the Smokey Bear Campground Resort, said Saturday he was hearing reports that 20 to 30 people could be unaccounted for. "The slide was really wide and deep. About 20 to 30 people are still unaccounted for," Berlingette said. Berlingette said he had been snowmobiling in the same area himself earlier in the day and "playing it safe" due to an avalanche warning that had been issued. A group of snowmobilers staying at the campground were among those who attended the annual snowmobiling event known as "The Big Iron Shoot out" in the Turbo Bowl area on Boulder Mountain. "With so many people at the bottom, it was a recipe for disaster," Berlingette said. He has been snowmobiling for 30 years and said that some of the participants in the competition weren't properly equipped. "It's a huge wake-up call," Berlingette said, adding that inexperienced snowmobilers are often the ones taking the biggest risks. The Big Iron Shootout is an annual event on four areas of Boulder Mountain — the super bowl, sugar bowl, bullpen and turbo bowl. The competition in past years typically involved 10 teams of 11 riders who compete in the extreme events, racing up the side of the mountain and pulling jumps and stunts. The event has caused controversy within the local sledding community for the four years it has operated, said Revelstoke Coun. Steve Bender, who also acts as the city’s liaison with local snowmobiling groups. Both the Revelstoke Snowmobile Society and the Revelstoke Snowmobile Club — who groom the trails up to Boulder Mountain — have long expressed concerns with the event. “The Big Iron Shootout is where people come from quite distant areas to bring very powerful, souped-up machines and to see how far they can climb up a big mountain. It’s extreme high marking,” he said. "There have been concerns with it not being covered properly for safety,” Bender added.

Witness Rod Romanow told CTV he arrived at the scene minutes after the avalanche. He described a giant avalanche that threw some snowmobiles 30 to 200 metres down the mountain. “The debris field was extremely deep and large,” he said. “There wasn’t real panic; there was definitely a flurry of activity,” he said. “People were digging furiously trying to find people.” Witness Mark Shaede, president of Revelstoke Snowmobile Tours, told Global News on Sunday that he was about a kilometre and a half away watching, when his group "heard and saw a large puff of snow. It looked like it had landed on the so-called gallery of spectators," he said. Shaede, an experienced rider, said snowmobilers were aware of the special warning issued by the Canadian Avalanche Centre for Saturday and Sunday, but said "there was nothing extremely extraordinary" about the conditions to his eye. He rushed to help in the wake of the avalanche, and was present when one lifeless body was pulled from the snow. "It's quite a catastrophic sight, actually," he said. "There are spots where [the snowpack is] probably 40 feet deep out there. Officials from the British Columbia Snowmobile Federation and the Revelstoke Snowmobile Club declined to comment on the avalanche, but said that the news they are receiving “is not good.” RCMP Cpl. Dan Moskaluk said four provincial search and rescue teams from Revelstoke, Golden, Arrow Lakes and Nelson were involved in rescue efforts. “It’s a major tragedy,” said Revelstoke Mayor David Raven. There had been a “fairly significant” snowfall the previous night on top of some well-established crust layers below that, Raven said.