Study suggests new avalanche safety guidelines needed in Canada

VANCOUVER – Eight minutes is the difference between life and death if you’re buried by an avalanche in the Canadian backcountry as opposed to in Europe.

That’s the finding of a new study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

Comparing statistics in Canada and Switzerland, Simon Fraser University researcher Pascal Haegeli found the safety guidelines here may need some updating.

He found that people caught in a snow slide in Canada are likely to die eight minutes earlier.

The reason for the difference may be because there’s more trees in Canada, making it more likely for people to die of trauma injuries.

If they do survive the avalanche, denser snow means they have a higher chance of suffocating.

And even if they are rescued, Canadian victims are typically found in more remote locations where the distance to medical facilities is far away.