Avalanches Kill at Least 8 in Western Canada

Avalanches in the mountains of western Canada that killed at least eight people over the weekend were the most deadly in recent memory, officials said Sunday.

The avalanches, triggered by cold weather and new snowfall, roared down three mountains in southeastern British Columbia, burying back-country skiers and snowmobilers. One skier was still missing Sunday.

“We’ve never seen this many recreational skiers killed by avalanches in a single day,” Evan Manners of the Canadian Avalanche Centre said Sunday. “It’s not the worst thing that’s ever happened in Canada, but in recent history, it’s the worst recreational tragedy we’ve seen.”

The danger of more avalanches in the south Columbia Mountains region of the Canadian Rockies remained high, he said.

Search and rescue teams found the bodies of five skiers buried in snow in Kokanee Glacier Provincial Park, north of Nelson, British Columbia, on Saturday.

A sixth person in the group, which was reported missing after failing to return to a cabin near Woodbury Glacier in the park, had not been found, and rescuers were unable to get to the avalanche site Sunday because of weather, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said.

Two people died in an avalanche close to Mt. Alwin, near New Denver, British Columbia, 50 miles northwest of Nelson, which is in the Selkirk Range of the Rockies, about 270 miles east of Vancouver.

Another avalanche at Elliott Lake, British Columbia, close to Alberta and the Canada-U.S. border, buried four friends on snowmobiles on Friday, killing one.

The three survivors dug themselves out but were unable to rescue Murray Gray Perrin, 38, of Medicine Hat, Alberta, who was covered by about 10 feet of snow, Constable Steve Small said.

The eight confirmed deaths bring to 13 the number of people killed in avalanches in western Canada this winter.