Climbers conquered Banff peak ... and died
CALGARY—The three mountaineers who died in Banff National Park last week managed to reach the summit of Howse Peak before they were killed, Parks Canada officials said Monday.
American climber Jess Roskelley, who once held the record as the youngest American to tackle Mount Everest, along with renowned Austrian climbers David Lama and Hansjörg Auer began their ascent of Howse Peak’s 1,000-metre-high east face on Tuesday morning.
By noon, they’d reached the summit and were on their way down when they died.
Rescuers attempted an aerial search on Thursday, but poor weather limited their opportunities to search Howse Peak’s face, according to incident commander Shelley Humphries.
On Saturday, teams did an aerial search of the mountaineers’ climbing route as well as a possible descent route on the other side of the mountain.
But it took a specially trained avalanche dog and handler, inserted by helicopter on Sunday morning, to locate their bodies on snow slopes below the east face of Howse Peak.
The mountain is roughly five kilometres west of the Icefields Parkway in the northern part of Banff National Park on the border of Alberta and British Columbia.
“We are relieved that this recovery has come to a safe and timely conclusion,” Humphries said in a conference call with reporters on Monday.
“Our thoughts are with the families and friends of those who lost their lives over the past week.”
Roskelley, Lama and Auer weren’t wearing avalanche beacons during their climb. Humphries said some members of the climbing community don’t, but Parks Canada strongly encourages anyone in avalanche terrain to carry one.
Regardless, wearing them wouldn’t have saved the climbers’ lives.
“In this particular case, the outcome would not have changed, but it would have expedited the search and the recovery,” Humphries said.
According to Avalanche Canada, 12 people have died in avalanches across the country since Oct. 1, 2018 — within the 10-year-average.
All three were incredibly accomplished mountaineers.
The North Face, which sponsored them, honoured their lives in a post to the outdoor company’s website on Monday.