jordop Posted February 2, 2003 Posted February 2, 2003 http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1044137693020_9///?hub=TopStories Quote
Billygoat Posted February 2, 2003 Posted February 2, 2003 What is going on!!!!!!???? Are people forgetting to spread out or is ullarr pissed Quote
jordop Posted February 2, 2003 Author Posted February 2, 2003 (edited) . Edited June 15, 2021 by jordop Quote
snoboy Posted February 2, 2003 Posted February 2, 2003 Man, this is starting to screw with my head. From CTV REVELSTOKE, B.C. — Tragedy in the form of a deadly wall of snow has once again struck the back- country ski area of interior British Columbia. Seven back-country skiers from a high-school excursion group were killed Saturday in the second deadly avalanche to hit east-central British Columbia in the past two weeks. RCMP said 14 high school students were among 17 people caught in the slide late Saturday morning. Two managed to escape being buried as the wall of snow crashed down on their group. B.C. Ambulance Service spokesman Bob Pierce confirmed the deaths. The survivors were airlifted to Glacier Park Lodge by helicopter. Two people from the group were treated for minor injuries, said RCMP Sgt. Randy Brown. Park wardens, RCMP officers and local ski tour operators and guides, backed up by helicopters and search dogs, joined in the rescue effort. Members of a Canadian Horse Artillery unit stationed in the park for avalanche-control work were also on hand to assist. The slide occurred in Glacier National Park, about 65 kilometres east of Revelstoke, in the Rogers Pass area known as Knock Creek. The victims were from a high school group from the Calgary area, said Pam Doyle, superintendent for Parks Canada in Revelstoke. It was the second major slide in the area in a month. Seven people in a party of 21 back-country skiers died in a Jan. 20 avalanche on Durrand Glacier. A memorial service for the victims was held just Friday in a Revelstoke church. The avalanche Saturday occurred on Mount Cheops in Glacier National Park just before noon, said Doyle. She said it happened on the north face of the mountain in Connaught Creek Valley section of Balu Valley, about five kilometres west of the Rogers Pass summit. The area not particularly remote and features well-marked cross-country ski trails. No guides are needed to ski them. "It's a very, very popular ski destination site," said Pat Dunn, media liaison officer at the national park. Brown said the skiers were not part of a commercial tour group. The Saturday-morning back-country avalanche report for the park's office listed the hazard for Glacier as "considerable" in both the treeline and alpine areas. Doyle said that at this time there are no plans yet to close back-country areas of the park. Quote
Dru Posted February 2, 2003 Posted February 2, 2003 ya how many people get avalanched on groomed cross country trails??????????? Quote
snoboy Posted February 2, 2003 Posted February 2, 2003 ya how many people get avalanched on groomed cross country trails??????????? Yeah, that got me too! And Knock Creek = Connaught Creek most likely. I am pissed that CBC is reporting on the shuttle disaster, and not much on the avy. Both were 7 deaths, isn't it supposed to be the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation??? Quote
Dru Posted February 2, 2003 Posted February 2, 2003 if they were high school students on groomed trails, did they have pieps and shovels and probes, i wonder. Quote
klenke Posted February 2, 2003 Posted February 2, 2003 Rogers Pass has always been an avalanche-prone area. That's the main reason why the railroad goes through a tunnel there, if I recall correctly. Heck, there's even a major peak right by the pass called Avalanche Mountain with perfect slopes with which to slough the snow en masse. Quote
mattp Posted February 2, 2003 Posted February 2, 2003 Most people who go day-skiing at Rogers Pass head up either the Connought Creek or the Illecillewaet River drainage. Connought Creek is right behind the Best Western Motel, and perhaps twenty minutes up the valley is an obvious bowl to the left, guarded by a moraine. You climb up over the moraine to enter the bowl on the north side of Cheops Mountain, where it sounds as if the accident may have occured. It is a very easy place to get to, and perhaps the most ovious touring destination at Roger's Pass. The slopes are generally pretty moderate, though the bowl is ringed by cliffs. The hazard was today rated "considerable" at or above treeline. Part of the avalanche forecast reads as follows: DISCUSSION: Another 10cm of snow overnight is adding to the light, yet steady snowfalls that have accumulated since midweek. The new snow has fallen under mild and at times windy conditions in a warm southwest flow. Thus, a total of 30 cm load of storm snow is contributing to the stiffening of the slab over a surface hoar layer responsible for last weeks extensive avalanche cycle. Snowprofile work done yesterday concentrated on West and North aspects both around the 2100 meter range. Stability tests showed consistent failures on the Jan 20 surface hoar with scores in the moderate to hard range. The new snow instability described yesterday, now over 30 cm deep, was also observed on the west aspect. Given the recent and past wind events, these are the layers of highest concern at this time, especially on lee slopes or near large terrain features. Ski tests easily released the Jan 20th layer on unsupported rolls on the north aspect... (This is quoted from the Canadian Avalanche Association Website, but the same information would have been available at the Warden's office accross the street from that Best Western Motel.) If you ski much in the backcountry, this is sobering indeed. Quote
iain Posted February 2, 2003 Posted February 2, 2003 I found it creepy skiing in Rogers Pass last time I was there. Plenty of terrain to slide and a twisted transitional climate to boot. It is an initimidating place to ski from an avalanche hazard standpoint. Quote
snoboy Posted February 2, 2003 Posted February 2, 2003 if they were high school students on groomed trails, did they have pieps and shovels and probes, i wonder. Dru - they aren't groomed, signed trails. That is the media talking out of its ass. They most likely were on a well used access route, that sometimes looks groomed from the amount of traffic it gets. Iain - its funny, I have always liked skiing at the Pass. I found it helpful to have a huge resource of snow info available. "She said it happened on the north face of the mountain [Cheops] in Connaught Creek Valley section of Balu Valley, about five kilometres west of the Rogers Pass summit." In my memory there is no place there where it would be neccesary to expose 17 people to the hazard at the same time... Of course the report may be wrong there too. Quote
snoboy Posted February 2, 2003 Posted February 2, 2003 Now 3rd Hand... "for those who are familiar with roger's pass: the slide was a class 3.5 natural that ran down glory 1 on the north face of Mt Cheops. The party was in a percieved safe zone travelling up the skin track towards Balu Pass underneath Ursus trees. The slide ran down the valley, up the other side, taking out the group and timber and then curved down the valley. From all reports no one did anything wrong." From the thread on telemaktips.com. Quote
iain Posted February 2, 2003 Posted February 2, 2003 I didn't say I didn't like it! It's an awesome place to ski with good snow (sometimes too much good snow). Just keeps you on your toes. Quote
snoboy Posted February 2, 2003 Posted February 2, 2003 I guess I meant for, "Iain - its funny, I have always liked skiing at the Pass," to mean that I didn't find it creepy. Sorry, my bad. I think I will find it a bit creepier now though. These two recent accidents (and the one at Red Mountain earlier in the winter) have certainly made me question my motives, and rationales for b/c skiing. More than before is what I mean. For some reason, maybe how close to home these two were, they are shaking me a bit more than usual. It is also bolstering me in other ways. I haven't felt like it was a good winter to go out in the b/c much at all this year. So maybe my snow sense is tingling at the right times anyway. Quote
Billygoat Posted February 2, 2003 Posted February 2, 2003 Has it been unusually warm up there? I was just at Sun peaks with the family and it rained on the mountain the day before we arrived, something the locals say never happens. Quote
snoboy Posted February 2, 2003 Posted February 2, 2003 They are lying, but yes it has been a warm spell. Quote
philfort Posted February 2, 2003 Posted February 2, 2003 Yikes - what sketchy conditions. We skied at Rogers earlier this month. We set off a few small slabs, which turned out to be harmless in the end, but they totally caught us off guard - we really misjudged the conditions. Glad I don't plan to be skiing in the BC interior again this season... Quote
JoshK Posted February 2, 2003 Posted February 2, 2003 Wow, 14 people in a couple of weeks. Very sad. It really is hard to not let it get to you when it hits people who are seemingly doing "all the rigth things" Quote
salbrecher Posted February 2, 2003 Posted February 2, 2003 To bad about the hundreds of other people who die around the world every day to Quote
specialed Posted February 2, 2003 Posted February 2, 2003 Clearly extra high avy danger in that area right now. They've had a wierd ass winter. Really dry and cold fall and early winter, then warm and wet, and then cold. Now warm spell again apparently. I'm sure their snowpacks got all sorts of funky layers goin on right now... sketchy. I'd personally stay away from Roger's pass unless conditions were more normal and stable. Ofcourse its never going to be perfectly safe but safety's relative. Quote
snoboy Posted February 2, 2003 Posted February 2, 2003 (edited) Actually, specialed, it was rated at considerable on the day of the accident. Extra high isn't even a rating. One avalanche does not a rating make! Oh, maybe you are part of some special Rogers Pass avy forecast team that I don't know about. Sorry if you are. Edit: Here's a good news link. Edited February 2, 2003 by snoboy Quote
AlpineK Posted February 3, 2003 Posted February 3, 2003 (edited) I've skied up that drainage a few times; once there was a private high school group on the trail. There are some big slopes that obviously slide quite often on Mt Cheops. The trail sticks to the north side of the valley, so an avalanch from Cheops must have been pretty big. It isn't a signed cross country trail, but it is used a lot. The trail starts on the back side of the Best Western at the pass, and it's a pretty easy ski up to the pass. Edited February 3, 2003 by AlpineK Quote
klenke Posted February 3, 2003 Posted February 3, 2003 Referring back to my previous post in this thread, I believe the snowier peak at left in mattp's second B&W photo is Avalanche Mountain (the peak two points left of pyramidal Sir Donald). North Slope of Cheops definitely looks like a danger area to me. Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.