Three heli-skiers were killed Monday after an avalanche in southeastern B.C. swept them away, according to RCMP.
The RCMP said the avalanche occurred around the village of Kaslo, on the east side of Kootenay Lake, around 1 p.m. PT.
“Two groups of skiers had just finished skiing the bowl and were waiting in a staging area below the tree line of Clute Creek water shed. A transport helicopter was nearing the group when the pilot observed an avalanche and sounded the siren,” the RCMP said in a news release.
One group of skiers was able to get out of the way but the other group of four was swept away into the tree line, RCMP said.
Three of the skiers were found dead, according to Mounties — a 44-year-old Whistler man, a 45-year-old Idaho man and their 53-year-old guide from Kaslo.
A fourth person, a 40-year-old man from Nelson, was critically injured, police said. The BC Coroners Service is now investigating.
CBC News has reached out to Avalanche Canada for more information.
In 2023, two police officers with the Nelson Police Department were killed after they were caught in a backcountry avalanche near Kaslo.
Avalanche Canada said at the time that some professionals compared that year’s snowpack to 2003, which was one of the worst years on record for avalanche fatalities.
