3 people killed, including Idahoan, during avalanche in Canada
Three people were killed, including an Idaho man, and a fourth critically injured after a devastating avalanche swept away a group of skiers in Canada, local officials said.
The incident unfolded Monday afternoon, just after two groups of skiers wrapped a run on the east side of Kootenay Lake in the British Columbia backcountry, according to a statement from the Kaslo Royal Canadian Mounted Police. They’d been waiting for a transport helicopter in a staging area below the tree line of Clute Creek watershed when disaster struck around 1 p.m., according to CBC.
The chopper’s pilot “observed an avalanche and sounded the siren,” the KRCMP said. “The group of skiers was able to run out of harm’s way, while the other group of four was swept away into the tree line.”
The avalanche sparked an intense effort to rescue and locate the athletes, but three of them were dead by the time crews pulled them from the snow.
According to the Vancouver Sun, Jason Remple, 53, and Jeff Keenan, 44, both of British Columbia, and Alex Pashley, 45, of Idaho, died in the avalanche.
Pashley was the snow sports marketing manager for the outdoor recreational company North Face, the Sun reported.
The North Face wrote in an Instagram post Tuesday that “Pashley was an explorer to his core: As a photographer, he captured the nuances that transform a good story into a great one, and was celebrated and showcased across major snowboard publications. And he loved being on a board just as much as being behind the lens, building community through deep powder and big lines.”
Mark Jennings-Bates, manager of Kaslo Search and Rescue, described the group as “very, very proficient” skiers, per the Canadian Press. They’d all been in a region operated by Stellar Heli Skiing, which confirmed the tragedy in a statement. According to the Sun, Remple was the company’s owner.
“The entire team at Stellar Heli Skiing extends its deepest condolences to the families and loved ones of those affected by this tragedy,” Steller Heli Skiing wrote in the statement. “Our thoughts remain with them during this incredibly difficult time.”
Keenan was a professional snowboarder and cofounder of Dinosaurs Will Die, which manufactures snowboards.
A fourth skier, a 40-year-old man from Nelson, British Columbia, was found alive, but he suffered critical injuries.
Ski Magazine reported Tuesday that Avalanche Canada issued a “very dangerous” Level 4 avalanche rating in the region of Kootenay Lake on the day of the incident. “Rising temperatures and strong sun were creating ‘very dangerous avalanche conditions,’ ” the article reads, and recreationalists were warned to avoid the terrain “due to persistent slab avalanches” and “deeply buried weak layers.”
Kootaney Lake is approximately a 3½-hour drive, or nearly 180 miles, from Spokane via U.S. Highway 95.
Spokesman-Review staff contributed to this story.