Skier alive after being buried by avalanche

Buried under nearly four metres of snow for several minutes, a skier was fortunate to escape injury after a Thursday afternoon avalanche near Lake Louise.

A little after 5 p.m., RCMP and Parks Canada safety teams were notified of an SOS signal received from a GPS emergency beacon near Moraine Lake.

Parks Canada spokeswoman Lesley Matheson says the size 2.5 avalanche was triggered as a group of three ski tourers ascended a slope on the southeast side of Sentinel pass, southwest of Lake Louise.

The 200-metre wide, 40-centimetre deep avalanche carried one of the skiers more than 200 metres down the slope, burying the person under nearly four metres of snow.

Properly equipped with avalanche rescue gear and emergency locator beacons, her companions managed to locate and dig out the woman, who’d spent 15 minutes buried in the snow.

Arriving at the scene by helicopter, Parks Canada safety personnel airlifted the victims to meet emergency medical crews in Lake Louise, where the apparently uninjured skier refused care and was taken home by her friends, Matheson said.

STARS air ambulance was dispatched to the scene, but was later stood down by on-scene EMS crews.

Matheson credits the skiers for being properly prepared for their journey, indicating the outcome could have been a lot different.

“The skier who was buried was found and retrieved quickly, because the group of three skiers were well prepared and had the right equipment with them,” she said.