Avalanche
“What we were able to see was snowshoe tracks into avalanche debris with no tracks leading out.” – Tania Peters, Parks Canada Spokesperson
Canadian police are reporting that two American snowshoers were caught in an avalanche near Banff, Canada. Their bodies haven’t yet been recovered, but they are presumed to be dead. The avalanche occurred about 20 minutes drive north of Lake Louise.
Avalanche danger was rated as HIGH at the time of the avalanche in the area of the avalanche. Part of highway 93 is closed towards Jasper due to the high avalanche danger and part of highway 93 towards Radium is also closed due to avy danger.
“We believe they had gone snowshoeing and subsequently got caught in an avalanche. We do not know for certain, but we presume that they are deceased.” – Royal Canadian Mounted Police spokesman, Curtis Peters
The two Americans are from Boston, MA. Their rental car was located near the trailhead in Banff National Park, Alberta.
The Royal Canadian Mountain Police reports that they didn’t check out of their hotel in Field, British Columbia as scheduled.
“We were able to do a flyover in a helicopter and we did pick up two transceiver signals leading us to believe that the two people are in fact buried in the debris.” – Tania Peters, Parks Canada Spokesperson
“On behalf of Parks Canada we would like to say that our thoughts are with the family and friends of these individuals. We are making every effort to get into the area and conduct a search, but we have to do that safely.” – Royal Canadian Mounted Police spokesman, Curtis Peters
Efforts to locate their bodies has been hampered by bad weather and high risk of avalanches.
