The Big Iron Shootout – the scene of Saturday’s avalanche tragedy – is a controversial extreme snowmobile event that has caused safety concerns in the past.
The Shootout is an annual event on four areas of Boulder Mountain – the super bowl, sugar bowl, bullpen and turbo bowl.
The competition in past years typically involved 10 teams of 11 riders who compete in the extreme events, racing up the side of the mountain and pulling jumps and stunts.
The event has engendered controversy within the local sledding community for the approximately four years it has operated, said Revelstoke Coun. Steve Bender, who also acts as the city’s liaison with local snowmobiling groups.
Both the Revelstoke Snowmobile Society and the Revelstoke Snowmobile Club – who groom the trails up to Boulder Mountain – have expressed long-standing concerns with the event.
"The Big Iron Shootout is where people come from quite distant areas to bring very powerful, souped-up machines and to see how far they can climb up a big mountain. It’s extreme high marking," he said.
"There have been concerns with it not being covered properly for safety," Bender added.
Meahnwhile, Revelstoke Mayor David Raven said the avalanche is a "major tragedy."
There had been a "fairly significant" snowfall the previous night on top of some well-established crust layers below that, Raven said.
"That spells trouble," he said.
Witness Rod Romanow said he arrived at the scene minutes after the avalanche.
He described a giant avalanche that has thrown some snowmobiles 30 to 200 metres down the mountain.
"The debris field was extremely deep and large," he said.
"There wasn’t real panic there was definitely a flurry of activity," he said. "People were digging furiously trying to find people."
Officials from the British Columbia Snowmobile Federation and the Revelstoke Snowmobile Club declined to comment on the avalanche, but said that the news they are receiving "is not good."
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