Alberta RCMP have found the body of a mountain climber who was killed in an avalanche in Kananaskis Country earlier this week.
Kananaskis RCMP said they received a report of an overdue climber on Tuesday, who’d left his Calgary home on Monday morning to climb Mt. Lawson.
They said officers found the climber’s vehicle on an access road near Mt. Lawson.
“The subject had made the summit and while on descent, triggered a size 2.0 loose wet avalanche and was critically buried in a terrain trap,” Jeremy Mackenzie, with the Association for Canadian Mountain Guides, said in a report posted on MountainConditions.com.
RCMP said the climber may have triggered a small snow avalanche.
The posting suggests the avalanche was narrow, but travelled over 500 metres and funneled into a gully on the lower part of the mountain.
Mackenzie noted cold and wet weather had “deposited up to 40 cm of snow in the Alpine through much of the Kananaskis region over the May long weekend,” and that “numerous loose wet avalanches were observed.”
“This recent snow will take several days to stabilize,” Mackenzie warned. “A very cautious and conservative approach to avalanche terrain is advised until this recent snow has a chance to stabilize.”
The name of the climber will not be released by RCMP.
Mt. Lawson is located about 100 kilometres southwest of Calgary.