WATCH ABOVE: Tracy Nagai has the latest on the search and rescue efforts that have now turned into a recovery operation for Mark Salesse. He was ice climbing the polar circus on Thursday when he was suddenly swept off the mountain in Banff National Park.
CALGARY – The search for a Canadian soldier swept away in an avalanche in Banff National Park continued Sunday but was called off early once crews arrived near the site.
Parks Canada said that avalanche conditions remained high and it was not possible to safely put rescuers into the avalanche site.
More avalanche control was conducted and Parks Canada is hopeful that conditions will improve Monday so that a ground search can take place.
Parks Canada is leading the search for Sergeant Mark Salesse, the ice climber who was reported missing on Thursday evening. Salesse is a Royal Canadian Air Force Search and Rescue technician from 435 Transport and Rescue squadron based out of 17 Wing Winnipeg.
He was last seen near the Polar Circus Ice Climbing route in Banff National Park near the Columbia Icefields Thursday evening. The massive frozen waterfall is 200 metres of snow slopes and 500 metres of grade 3 to grade 5 ice, according to the Canadian Rockies Alpine Guides website.
It’s located about three hours outside of Calgary.
Sunday, the plan was for ground searchers to get into the site to do a search of the area where the avalanche took place but was cancelled due to further avalanche risks.
When the search does resume, they plan to have a helicopter take ground searchers to roughly 1,000 feet above the polar circus floor. Parks Canada search dogs would also be a part of the ground search.
Brian Webster from Banff National Park says the polar circus is a long climb with a series of nine different pitches, so they expect to find Salesse on a snow ledge.
“It was a relatively small feature that the climber was on and a relatively small avalanche that he triggered but he was swept over a cliff. He fell about 60 meters to the snow ledge below and that’s where we expect the person to be still.”
Webster says that because Salesse was buried under the avalanche for over 24 hours, that’s when it was decided that the search and rescue had become a recovery operation.
“As long as it’s safe,we will spend a whole day searching and stay there until dark,” Webster says.
The avalanche hazard in Banff National Park was rated high since Friday, due to rising temperatures and snowfall.
“The change happened overnight. So it’s very unfortunate for this climbing team that they had the accident and then the following day the avalanche hazard jumped up to high,” Webster said.
It’s been a tough few days for Jason Budd, with his longtime friend 44-year-old Salesse missing since Thursday.
“Two days into it, definitely makes the situation a lot worse,” Budd said. “If anybody was going to survive out there. It was Mark Salesse.”
Salesse is a Royal Canadian Air Force search and rescue technician, trained to help people in perilous situations.
He was training on the Polar Circus ice climbing route when suddenly an avalanche came crashing down.
“You can’t put words to it. I was there the day before and it’s not forgiving. If you make a mistake in that terrain, you’re very lucky, Brent Peters said.
Both Budd and Peters had spent 9.5 hours on the Polar Circus on Wednesday. On their way down, conditions were already changing.
“I did notice on our descent through the tricky traverse that loads with snow that there were soft slabs in that zone. So in the morning they weren’t there and in the afternoon they were there,” Peters said.
Parks Canada says the search and rescue has now become a recovery operation.
A ground search is set to take place once weather conditions improve and avalanche control is complete.
“The big concern right now is not putting any other members at risk and I know mark very well and he would not want that,” Budd said.
At the 17 wing in Winnipeg, the outlook is grim among Salesse’s friends and colleagues.
“To say there is hope would be erroneous. What we’re focusing on right now is supporting the family,” Captain Bettina McCulloch-Drake said.
The search and rescue technicians’ motto is that others may live and why many in the field continue, despite the possibility of danger.
“It was a routine mountain training exercise yesterday, apparently he was caught in an avalanche,” said Capt. Bettina McCulloch-Drake, 17 Wing Winnipeg public affairs officer.
WATCH: 17 Wing public affairs officer give update on missing member in Banff National Park
“All the Search and Rescue technicians are fully trained to operate in these kind of conditions, so at the moment our focus here is to cooperate and wait for the Parks Canada folk because they’re trained to do mountain rescues.
McCulloch-Drake didn’t have information on how long Salesse had been with 17 Wing.
Search and rescue crews from Parks Canada Banff, Yoho, Kootenay and Jasper were involved in the search.
The polar circus is a world famous ice climb and rated a 5 out of 6 for difficulty. It’s 9 pitches long and like most ice climbs – it is exposed to a lot of avalanche hazards.
435 Transport and Rescue Squadron tasks include “airlift of freight and passengers, air-to-air refuelling of fighter aircraft in Canada and around the world and search and rescue operations within the Trenton Search and Rescue Region from the border with the United States to the geographic North Pole,” according to the Royal Canadian Airforce website. The squadron provides primary search and rescue response for the Trenton Search and Rescue Region, “the largest in Canada,” which extends from Quebec City to the British Columbia/Alberta border, and from the Canada/United States border to the North Pole, says the site.
With files from Reid Fiest, Global News and The Canadian Press.
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