REVELSTOKE, B.C. — Rescuers were scouring a remote mountain in the Rocky Mountains into the darkness Saturday night after an avalanche struck a large gathering of snowmobilers, killing at least one person and leaving an unknown number missing.
RCMP said a dozen people were injured in the slide on Boulder Mountain, near Revelstoke, B.C., but up to 200 people were on the mountain at the time for the annual Big Iron Shoot Out.
The slide struck around 3:30 p.m. local time, and search and rescue resources were called in from around the province and from Calgary.
Adam Burke, 20, a member of the Revelstoke Snowmobile Club, said his mother and many of his friends were up there at the time, but his mother was OK.
Burke said he chose not to go, because of the high-risk conditions in the mountains this weekend.
“Today it was high risk and just the other day it was extreme,” he said. “I told everyone to shut the mountain down . . . Just how I’ve been riding and I’ve noticed a lot of slab avalanches and I’ve caused a lot of little stuff over the season and it’s just progressively gotten worse. I told my mom to shut it down and don’t have anything to do with this event because it’s going to kick you in the ass.”
Burke said his friend’s father was one of the people unaccounted for.
RCMP said they did not yet have details about the person who was killed or the extent of the injuries. Nor did they have a number for how many might be missing in the slide near Revelstoke, located approximately 300 kilometres west of Calgary and about 400 kilometres northeast of Vancouver.
“The area has been shut down to keep people out,” said Cpl. Dan Moskaluk. “They’re going to continue on here with trying to remove people off the mountain in the area and tomorrow reassess where we’re at.”
Search and rescue teams, including helicopters and avalanche rescue dogs called in from around B.C. and Calgary were working to rescue those caught in the slide.
“You’ve got a variety of emergency assets, everything ranging from your Revelstoke search and rescue to provincial emergency programs,” Moskaluk said.
