Snowmobilers against rules in back-country, despite avalanche deaths
REVELSTOKE, B.C. — Snowmobilers remain opposed to having their back-country fun regulated despite a weekend avalanche that killed two Alberta men and injured 31 others.
”We’re not in favour of regulating the back country for users,“ Les Auston, executive director of the B.C. Snowmobile Federation, said Monday.
“There’s all types of users out there and regulations require enforcement and all of that stuff. That would probably be a nightmare.”
British Columbia is wide open when it comes to snowmobile use.
Users don’t require any kind of licence to drive, there is no minimum age and no helmet requirement.
The machines themselves don’t have licence plates, only a one-time registration sticker that is not readily accessible to police through their computer systems, said Al Hodgson, president of the Association of B.C. Snowmobile Clubs.
Most other provinces and U.S. states regulate snowmobilers and their sleds more strictly, he said.
The dead and injured were spectators or participants at the Big Iron Shoot-Out near Revelstoke late Saturday afternoon when a massive slide estimated at 10 metres high engulfed them.
The Canadian Avalanche Centre had issued warnings about extreme conditions for the area.
Competitors were involved in something called “high-marking,” where they race their high-performance machines up the mountainside to see who can reach the furthest.
Witnesses have suggested the few that were doing this on Saturday may have set loose the huge slab of snow.
Online forums and comments to the news stories posted online have included angry and incredulous responses from readers who say anyone participating in the weekend event should be billed for rescue services.
“I just can’t stand the fact that these folks will ignore - or not seek (I suspect it’s ignore) - the CAC’s (Canadian Avalanche Centre’s) advice and will continue on their ill-educated badly planned ”can’t-happen-to-me-and-someone else-will-fly-in-and-get-me-if-it-does“ way doing this stuff,” writes bighorizon in a typical post.
“Then rely on the professional cavalry to come in on a weekend and pick up the pieces.”
But Auston said instead of regulation, his federation favours better education about avalanche risks.
“This is about people making better informed personal decisions when they’re out in the back country,” he said from Victoria.
Snowmobiling is like any other recreational activity when it comes to weighing risk, said Auston.
“When you get in your boat you make a choice to put on that life jacket and you make a choice whether that water’s too rough or not, and those are personal choices,” he said.
”It is a personal choice to go up there (high-marking) and to out-climb your buddy. It’s a thrill.“
Hodgson sat on a B.C. Coroners Service panel that looked into avalanche awareness among snowmobilers after 19 died in the back country last winter. He said he was shocked to learn the Big Iron Shoot-Out had gone ahead.
“I was mortified,” said Hodgson, whose group broke away from the snowmobile federation a few years ago. “I was upset and angry.”
The Canadian Avalanche Association had posted warnings for four consecutive weekends, he said.
Hodgson said competitors were racing their high-performance sleds up Turbo Hill, so named because it requires lots of horsepower to reach the top.
“I know the Turbo Hill area,” said Hodgson. “The only place you can watch anything happen on that hill is at the base of the hill and the terrain trap. It’s a classic setup for a tragedy.
“To have multiple people high-marking after 80 centimetres of snow with the base in the condition it was, I mean it breaks every single rule about avalanche safety.”
Revelstoke Mayor David Raven said the quick response of rescuers helped save 30 to 40 lives that late-Saturday afternoon.
“Within that hour after the slide until it got dark was the critical period for those people,” he said. “After it got dark they would have perished on the hill.”
But despite the close call for dozens of snowmobilers and their families, Raven — who doesn’t ride himself — is against restricting access to the back country.
“It’s public using public lands,” he said. If you’re going to regulate it you have to be able to enforce it.
“Any regulations have to have meaning and sense. Some people will accept that, some people won’t.”
— by Steve Mertl in Vancouver.
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