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Group caught in Revelstoke, B.C., avalanche, one dead: RCMP

By: The Canadian Press

Saturday, Feb. 23, 2013 at 12:02 AM | Comments: 0

REVELSTOKE, B.C. - An avalanche has swept down the backside of the Revelstoke Mountain Resort, catching up a group of three skiers and killing one of them.

RCMP Cpl. Dan Moskaluk said Friday the group was skiing in an out-of-bounds area at a resort in the Greely Lake area when the avalanche came down.

"A number of the group were able to get out to summon further help and are speaking with RCMP investigators and search and rescue," he said.

Barb McLintock of the BC Coroners Service said the slide took place between 1 p.m. and 1:30 p.m., and the skiers were in a group of five skiers who had left the resort.

McLintock said the two skiers who were not hit by the slide dug out the three who were, but they were too late to help one of the skiers who died.

"I don't know what equipment they were equipped with, but they did self-rescue," Moskaluk said, adding the body will be recovered on Saturday.

Moskaluk could not provide the ages or hometowns of the skiers.

"The weather conditions were not good, so there's still recovery work to be done by search and rescue," added McLintock.

Canadian Avalanche Centre forecasts indicate a high danger rating in many areas of the province, meaning travel isn't recommended in the alpine and at the treeline.

The rating also means that natural avalanches are likely and human-triggered avalanches are very likely.

A series of weather systems has dumped heavy snow on many B.C. mountains.

While the risk is supposed to decrease tomorrow, the avalanche centre indicates the threat will rise again on Sunday when another storm moves in.

The areas where the danger is high include the South Coast, Sea-to-Sky, the North and South Columbia, Monashees and Selkirks, Kootenay-Boundary, the Purcells and the South Rockies.

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