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Higher risk

The number of snowmobilers killed in avalanches could be cut by half if people were better prepared for the risk, says the Canadian Avalanche Centre.
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The number of snowmobilers killed in avalanches could be cut by half if people were better prepared for the risk, says the Canadian Avalanche Centre.

John Kelly, operations manager for the Revelstoke-based organization, says there is no means of collecting solid data on the actual number of snowmobilers going into the backcountry to ride their machines.

There is no formal registration process for snowmobiles, such as there is at sites including Rogers Pass, where skiers and boarders sign in before they head out. Last year, 30,000 backcountry skiers registered at Rogers Pass alone, according to Avalanche Centre statistics.

Although his analysis is strictly anecdotal, Kelly says the number of sledders hitting the high country is growing steadily and they’re getting into places they could never reach before because newer machines are more powerful and are better suited for mountain riding.

Along with the increase in numbers and access has come a steady increase in the number of snowmobilers hit by avalanches, including high-markers who relish the opportunities offered by the big slopes on their favourite mountains.

High-marking is a climbing competition in which sledders choose a long, steep slope and then see how far they can climb it or whether they can make it over the top.

This year, the Avalanche Centre has posted reports from seven fatal avalanches involving backcountry recreation in Western Canada, in which a total of 11 people were killed.

Snowmobilers account for four of the incidents and six of the deaths, including three Central Alberta men killed near Golden on Feb. 19.

In 2010, backcountry users were involved in nine fatal avalanches, which killed 10 people. Of those nine avalanches, four involved skiers and the other five involved snowmobilers. Six of the deaths were sledders, including a man from Lacombe and his business partner from Strathmore. The rest were skiers and boarders.

While the data are not strong enough to signal any definite trends, the actual number of skiers involved in fatal avalanches seems to have decreased while the trend is still climbing among snowmobilers, says Kelly.

The figures indicate that sledders need to catch up to the progress made by skiers and boarders in terms of being well versed in avalanche safety and properly equipped before they venture into the backcountry.

One thing is certain from reviewing the snowmobile deaths to date, says Kelly — in half of the fatalities his organization has reviewed, lives would have been saved if people had behaved differently.

For example, some victims have died because the people riding with them left to find help rather than trying to dig them out.

Others have died because snowmobilers tend to travel in tight groups, says Kelly. In the safety courses it offers to backcountry users, the avalanche centre stresses that people need to spread out so that if an avalanche does come down, it will not take an entire group with it.

Assuming that everyone is carrying the proper equipment, including shovels and emergency transceivers, chances for survival are much better if fellow sledders have escaped and are then able to help anyone who becomes buried in the snow, he says.

Snowmobile clubs and associations have been powerful proponents of avalanche safety and have become strong supporters of the avalanche centre, says Kelly. Some British Columbia clubs include avalanche safety training with their membership dues.

But the clubs and associations represent only 10 to 20 per cent of users. The challenge is to find ways of reaching the other 80 to 90 per cent, he says.

Kinesiologist Albi Sole, avalanche safety co-ordinator for the University of Calgary’s Outdoor Centre, completed his master’s thesis in 2008 on people who take risks to ski and board in the backcountry.

Sole’s research finds that a person’s probability of being killed in an avalanche is roughly equal to the chance of being killed in a motor vehicle collision. Motor vehicle collisions kill an average of six out of every 100,000 people, says Sole. The ratio of skiers and boarders killed in avalanches in Western Canada stack up almost the same, he says.

Every activity involves a share of risk, says Sole. That risk has to be weighed against a set of benefits, he says.

People get into their cars every day, knowing that they risk being killed in a collision. The benefits, however, are considered to outweigh the risk. So while it may seem that backcountry activities carry a high level of risk, the people who take part believe that the benefits are worth the risk, says Sole.

For skiers and boarders, who tend to be very fit and healthy, the benefits include physical exertion in a clean and healthy environment, he says.

Lacombe-based trucking contractor Janine Snortland, whose husband Shay was killed along with his business partner Kurtis Reynolds during a snowmobile high-marking event last year, says she understood his passion for the sport because she used to ride sleds and compete in motocross.

Snortland says she quit the higher-risk activities, including motocross, after becoming a mother.

As much as she mourns losing her husband and the father of her two children, Snortland says he died doing something he loved.

At the same time, she has been actively involved with a privately-organized committee that wants to see safety improvements for mountain riders, particularly during organized events.

Shay and his partner had been taking part in an organized, but unsanctioned, event near Revelstoke last March 13 when the mountain slope let go.

The official event had ended and the two men had joined others to do some high-marking afterward. Shay’s sled stalled partway up the slope, she says. He was there with his machine when the slope let go.

Investigators now believe the vibration and noise from a large number of machines caused the avalanche, which hit a number of participants and onlookers, says Snortland.

The committee she joined lobbied the British Columbia government for stricter regulations on people riding their machines in the backcountry, including asking for tighter controls at events like the one in which Shay and Reynolds were killed.

However, they were informed that the government would not make any moves on the legislative changes they were seeking.

The group still wants to see avalanche safety training made mandatory and have insurance companies step in by refusing to cover losses and rescue costs for riders who have not taken reasonable steps to avoid being caught in an avalanche, says Snortland.

“Where my husband was killed, there were sponsors there. What these sponsors did was, any money they made at unsanctioned events was given to avalanche safety awareness,” she says.

Red Deer sledder Roger Pillman, who is David Thompson Snow Riders representative on the Alberta Snowmobile Association, says he has a few concerns about mountain riding and the people who take part.

At 68, Pillman has years of experience riding trails with his wife, Lorraine.

Pillman says it bothers him to see young men who have wives and small children at home taking part in an activity that they know could lead to their deaths. Even more disconcerting, says Pillman, is that it seems to be the more experienced riders — those who are in their 40s and 50s — who are being buried in the snow.

For example, of the three men from Central Alberta who were killed late in February while riding near Golden, two were fathers aged 49 and 50. The two older men, Andy Gebhart of Donalda and Norbert Mueller of Halkirk, were high-marking with their sons, Jarrett Gebhart and Travis Mueller, both in their 20s. Travis was the only survivor.

Pillman says his belief is that the toll on older riders has nothing to do with them having more money. He feels it is the younger riders who are earning big money in the oilpatch who are buying the fancy equipment while the older riders, in general, should be the more cautious and are more likely to have taken avalanche training.

He is therefore at a loss to explain why the younger, more fearless individuals aren’t dominating the fatality statistics.

“It doesn’t make sense.”

The Canadian Avalanche Centre website provides up-to-date information about avalanche conditions and a database on its website where people can search for detailed information about avalanches that have occurred in the past along with information about safety equipment and courses available for backcountry users.

The group also publishes a book, updated every five years, that goes into more depth about the conditions, causes and people involved.

Visit www.avalanche.ca for general information or go to www.avalanche.ca/cac/library/incident-report-database/view to search for information about past incidents.

bkossowan@www.reddeeradvocate.com