One dead, one missing as large avalanche engulfs snowmobilers in southeast B.C.
Jan 14, 2019 | 9:45 AM
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INVERMERE, B.C. – Two snowmobilers are dead after being swept into a nearby lake, when a group sledders triggered an avalanche in the East Kootenays.
Avalanche Canada says the pair were among a group of nine sledding Saturday on Mount Brewer in the Purcell Mountains, just west of Invermere, when two of the riders were swept away by what is described as a very large snow slide.
A 200- to 400-metre wide avalanche tore away the snowpack from the surface to the ground layer and continued for more than a kilometre down the mountainside before running onto a small lake.
A father and son from Calgary have been identified as the men killed, as they were high marking – a risky activity where a sledder drives straight up a steep slope.
