UPDATE: The snowmobiler who died has been identified as Rene St. Onge, a well-known Sicamous man.
Condolences have been posted from around the sledding community.
“Today we lost a true Sicamous legend,” Sledgehammer Clothing posted on Facebook. “Rene St. Onge was our high school teacher in Sicamous B.C., most would say the best teacher we had. Rene left teaching to pursue his passion of sledding and in turn lived his life to the fullest. Our deepest condolences go out to his family and the community that supported him.”
“Our heartfelt condolences go out to Rene St. Onge’s family and friends,” Highmark by Snowpulse posted. “Rene was a larger than life character who was our longest running athlete team member. Rene was a huge supporter of our efforts from day one and always pushed us to develop new ideas. While not all of those ideas came to life he did play a role in developing the product that we have today and we thank him for all of his contributions.”
“Rene spent more days on the snow than anyone we know, well over 100 days per season and often riding well into June and sometimes July. His passion for the sport and his enthusiasm for life was incredible. He was generous with his time and always had a big smile. His contribution to the snowmobiling world in Western Canada as a guide and owner of Eagle Valley Lodge and as someone who spoke in support of the community was huge.”
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“He will be missed.”
St. Onge rebuilt an historic wildfire look-out station on Eagle Pass. The provincial government placed a stop-work order on the project and was is making a decision in January to allow completion of the look-out or have it torn down.
ORIGINAL STORY:
Sicamous RCMP have now confirmed that a man who was guiding a group of five snowmobilers north of Sicamous on Sunday died in an accident.
Police say the man, 51, was guiding the group in the Queest Mt. Forest Service Road area when his snowmobile rolled into a creekbed, pinning him.
The group administered CPR but were unable to revive him.
RCMP activated the the Shuswap Search and Rescue Team (SSAR) to find the group and confirm the man’s death.
Search and Rescue evacuated other snowmobilers from the area, but the removal of the deceased was not possible at the time due to the terrain, darkness and prevailing weather conditions.
The man’s name is not being released at this time.
Crews are hoping to remove the man’s body on Monday.
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