British Columbia Heli-Ski Operation Fined $84,000 for Fatal Avalanche Incident

Canadian Mountain Holidays (CMH) is the first and largest heli-ski operator in the world based on lodges, tenure, and skier visits. With 11 heli-ski destinations and hosting guests from dozens of countries around the world every year, they deliver what every snow sports enthusiast dreams of–untracked, exclusive powder.

An operation of that size and nature is sure to occasionally have liability issues that arise. This was the case on January 23, 2023, when an avalanche killed two and seriously injured another near Revelstoke, BC. A fine of $84,000 was imposed by the worker health and safety agency, WorkSafeBC in July of 2023. The findings were recently made public last week.

The reasons for the fine by the agency were because they claimed CMH failed to properly report the serious injury and “disturbed the scene” before reporting the incident.

The incident, which was reported by SnowBrains, occurred near Mount McCrae, about 15 miles southwest of Revelstoke. Three people were caught in the slide with two being completely buried and one partially buried. All three were located by their transceivers and extracted from the snow. The two unresponsive guests were flown to Kelowna Airport and transported to Kelowna General Hospital where both were pronounced deceased. The third person, who was a company guide, was later released from the hospital in stable condition.

CMH vice-president of marketing, Julia LoVecchio had this to say about the situation in an interview with news outlet Vancouver Is Awesome:

“We called the WorkSafeBC claims line to report the incident with the best of intentions. After the report had been received, we were advised to carry on with our regular protocols and mitigated the avalanche hazard around the site to enable a safe investigation.”

CMH has since paid the fine and updated its protocols. The company is looking forward to continuing to provide guests the ultimate powder experience in 2024. Many trips are booked up, but there are still some trips that have spots available.