Snowshoers’ bodies recovered from avalanche zone
LAKE LOUISE, Alta. — The bodies of two American snowshoers caught in an avalanche in Banff National Park were recovered Friday after rescuers were finally able to get to the snowslide, Parks Canada said.
The man and the woman, from Boston, both 32, were presumed dead on the slopes of Mount Hector after they failed to check out of their hotel in Field on Tuesday.
Their vehicle was found at a trail head on Highway 93 — known as the Icefields Parkway — and their tracks were spotted near the avalanche debris.
Visitor Safety specialists hiked up the mountain and saw that the area had been hit by one or more avalanches, but conditions were too dangerous most of the week to send searchers into the area.
Parks Canada said avalanche control work on Thursday in the area north of Lake Louise allowed the recovery to proceed.
Grant Statham of Parks Canada said he and another searcher walked up from the trail head on Tuesday and saw one of the victims partially buried, but the avalanche danger was too high to continue.
“We tried for the remainder of the evening to access the site until darkness on Tuesday,” he said Friday. “There was an incoming storm, it began to snow and it warmed up and it was too dangerous.”
It wasn’t until Friday morning that conditions were deemed to be safe enough to try again. A helicopter lowered six searchers to the site to dig. One victim was recovered under two metres of snow, and the second was covered by more than three metres.
Officials believe the snowshoers died last weekend.
RCMP said the couple were last seen on Saturday when they had breakfast in Field. On Tuesday, hotel staff called police to file a missing persons report when the couple’s room appeared untouched.
RCMP have not disclosed the identitities of the couple.
Statham said the avalanche risk was considerable on Mount Hector when the snowshoers were caught in the slide, but they were well equipped.
“They had avalanche transceivers on, which is of course how we found them,” he said.