and just to show this isn't a wrong print...
POSTED AT 8:09 PM EST Monday, January 20
Eight skiers dead in B.C. avalanche
Canadian Press
Revelstoke, B.C. — Eight American back-country skiers were killed and a number of others rescued after an avalanche crashed down a mountainside Monday in eastern British Columbia.
The slide came down near the Durrand Glacier, 37 kilometres north-northeast of the town of Revelstoke in the Selkirk Mountains.
There were conflicting reports of how many people were caught in the avalanche, which happened late Monday morning.
Some reports put the group's size at 20 but Ian McKichan, regional coroner for the B.C. Interior, said it was a party of 10 people and a guide.
Mr. McKichan said eight died and two were injured.
The B.C. Ambulance Service's dispatcher in Kamloops, B.C., received a call at 11 a.m. about the disaster, said spokesman Bob Pearce.
The bodies and injured skiers were located on the remote mountain by search-and-rescue workers and airlifted to hospital in Revelstoke.
At least one was in stable condition but Mr. Pearce said the status of the other victims was not known.
'There are five ambulance crews at the heliport in Revelstoke where a makeshift morgue has been set up in the hangar of Selkirk Mountain Experience,' which Mr. Pearce said had handled the skiing excursion.
A coroner was also on the scene, he said.
Selkirk's Web site says the Revelstoke-based company was founded in 1985 and caters to adventurers who enjoy the mountains.
It describes the area around Durrand Glacier as 'very remote and wild.'
The adventure travellers were ski touring, which involves a helicopter ride to a mountain hut or base camp and ski trips in the area.
'They wear special ski gear, climb up hills, lock into their skis and ski down,' said Clair Israelson, director of the Canadian Avalanche Association in Revelstoke. 'These are true back-country skiers.'
Mr. McKichan said avalanche conditions in the area Monday were rated as hazardous, but he did not know if they were moderate or extreme.
Mr. Israelson said the slide wasn't forecast and had it been, he said he is quite sure the group would not have gone out.
The Canadian winter sports industry has an excellent record when it comes to protecting people from avalanches, he said.
'In the past five winters, 70 people have died in avalanches in Canada,' Mr. Israelson said. 'Of those, five were involved in commercial operations such as this.
'I think that's a pretty good safety record for the industry, considering they're out there every single day of the winter season.'
Of the 70 fatalities, Mr. Israelson said 50 occurred in British Columbia, at a rate of about 10 per year. The province has already lost 10 people to avalanches this winter, he said.
Just Huck It.
