LAKE LOUISE – A skier believed swept away in an avalanche has been unaccounted for at least the past 1.5 hours.
At approximately 3:45 p.m., on Friday (March 14), Lake Louise RCMP responded to help with an avalanche out-of-bounds near the Lake Louise Ski Resort.
RCMP are still assisting with efforts to account for and locate all people of the resort.
Lake Louise Fire Department, Parks Canada’s rescuers, local ski patrol, employees of the ski resort, Alberta Health Services Emergency Medical Services, and STARS are on scene to help with the search.
"At this time, it is believed at least one person is unaccounted for with the avalanche,” stated Const. Julie-Ann Strilaiff, a public information officer with RCMP, in a media release.
The RCMP are asking for the public to follow instructions from all first responders and staff of the resort, and to have patience while all efforts are made to to and rescue anyone in need.
"This investigation is still ongoing and updates are expected,” Strilaiff said in the media release.
According to a Mountain Information Network (MIN) report posted by Parks Canada's visitor safety team on the Avalanche Canada site earlier, one of two skiers was buried in an avalanche.
After skiing Pipestone Bowl, which is out-of-bounds from the Lake Louise ski area, the MIN report said two skiers were working their way back to the ski area on a flagged traverse line in their downhill gear.
At about 3 p.m., the first skier triggered the avalanche on a 25 degree slope that propagated to the steeper terrain overhead.
"He was carried 50 m and buried 150-200 cm deep," states the Parks Canada MIN report, "Skier 2 conducted a transceiver search, excavated Skier 1, and initiated First Aid. Park Canada Visitor Safety evacuated the party to Emergency Medical Services."
However, the Lake Louise RCMP is seeking the public’s assistance in identifying the location of, or sightings of any stranded people on or around the Lake Louise Ski Resort.
They are also seeking information from people about people who should be at the resort, but have not checked in with friends or family.
STARS air ambulance confirmed it was called in response to avalanche in the Lake Louise area Friday afternoon.
"We were not medically required for transport and therefore I have no further details to provide," said Natalie Hofstetter, regional communications team lead for STARS in an email.
Anyone with information about the avalanche is asked to contact the Lake Louise RCMP at 403-522-3812 or local police.
If you wish to remain anonymous, you can contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8377 (TIPS), online at www.P3Tips.com or by using the “P3 Tips” app available through the Apple App or Google Play stores.
This story will be updated as more information becomes available.
Heightened avalanche danger
The avalanche came just hours after Parks Canada rescuers urged backcountry users to stay out of avalanche terrain as the avalanche hazard was rated high in Banff, Yoho and Kootenay national parks on Friday.
RCMP said there was also a report that Kananaskis Mountain Rescue had been called to an avalanche in K-Country. No details are available yet.
During this heightened period of avalanche danger, Minister of Forestry and Parks Todd Loewen's press secretary Alexandru Cioban said it is late on Friday afternoon, so unlikely any information would be available until Monday.
The avalanche hazard is listed as considerable in Banff, Yoho and Kootenay national parks, as well as Kananaskis Country heading into Saturday and Sunday with heightened avalanche risk continuing in the coming weeks.
Parks Canada visitor safety experts say 30-90 centimetres of snow has fallen since March 7, including 10-15 cm in the last 24 hours, almost doubling the snowpack in areas like Bow Summit as well as big dumps along the Wapta and in Little Yoho.
They said there have been many natural avalanches up to size 3 as well as human-triggered avalanches since Saturday.
“Previous to the storm hitting on March 7, we were kind of dealing with almost a historic low snowpack year in a lot of the region; then we just got a big flip with the huge storm that hit,” said Alex Lawson, public safety specialist for Park Canada.
“The Bow Summit, the Lake Louise area got the bulk of the snow but in some areas, we’ve just doubled the snowpack with this last storm. We just put a big load on an already weak snowpack and that has initiated a full natural avalanche cycle for much of the region,” he added.
“We’re seeing upper snowpack failures all the way down to full-depth avalanches that are failing pretty much on the ground, so right now our avalanche danger is at high and we’re advising people to stay out of avalanche terrain.”
Lawson said the snowpack will adjust to the new snow over the coming days, which will likely reduce the avalanche danger somewhat, but regardless, he said “that’s where it gets tricky.”
“When we drop it down to considerable, we’ll maybe not be seeing as many natural avalanches occurring anymore but human-triggered avalanches will remain likely,” he said.
Backcountry users will need to be cautious when heading into avalanche terrain at that point, with Lawson noting “it’s going to take a while for the avalanche hazard to really reduce itself” as the snowpack settles.
“We’re re-advising people, as the snowpack adjusts to this new load, to really cautiously pick their trips when they’re going into the backcountry and reduce their exposure to avalanche terrain,” he said.
“But in the immediate days here, we’re advising people to just stay out of avalanche terrain until we’re starting to see a reduction in natural avalanche activity.”
Lawson said Parks Canada’s message is also aimed at people who might not even realize they are in avalanche terrain, such as those walking along trails like the Lake Louise shoreline or are tempted to duck under a fence at a ski hill.
“As the snowpack does adjust to this new load, we are going to reduce the avalanche hazard because we’re trying to depict the actual conditions that we’re seeing out there, but what we don’t want to do is give people this false confidence that the snowpack has healed and it’s good to go,” he said.
“We’re going to be dealing with heightened avalanche danger for an extended period of time and we’re advising people as the snowpack adjusts to really cautiously expose themselves to avalanche terrain over the coming weeks.”
To check out avalanche conditions before heading to the mountains, go to https://avalanche.ca.
