CALGARY – As a smaller group of searchers returned to the scene of a fatal avalanche Monday, RCMP said it will take a lot of work to investigate the incident and determine if any charges can be laid.
Shay Snortland of Lacombe, Alberta, and Kurtis Reynolds of Strathmore, Alberta, died Saturday and dozens of others were injured after a wall of snow swept down Boulder Mountain, just outside of Revelstoke, B.C. Both 33-year-old men worked for an oil and gas firm specializing in transporting gas drilling rigs.
Hundreds had gathered for the Big Iron Shootout, an annual, loosely organized "high-marking" event in which snowmobilers ride their souped-up machines as far up a slope as possible. The unsanctioned event has been the source of controversy in the past over concerns about safety and environmental damage.
The event is held on Crown land, which means anyone can access it. RCMP Cpl. Dan Moskaluk said officers want to speak with anyone who helped organize the event that was being held at the alpine area called Turbo Bowl.
The event is believed to have been organized by Dave Clark – known in snowmobiling circles as "Ozone Dave" – a Calgary man who owns The O Zone, a sunglasses store in Calgary’s Market Mall.
Clark’s name, Moskaluk said, has "cropped up several times" as police begin to investigate the avalanche.
"It’s a name we’re aware of. People keep repeating it," he said.
Earlier Monday, the head of the B.C. Snowmobile Federation said snowmobilers have the right to ignore avalanche warnings – even if it means risking their lives.
"Right now it’s personal choice," federation executive director Les Austin said in an interview from Revelstoke.
"I don’t believe there needs to be greater regulation. We need greater education and stuff like that so people can make better-informed decisions. That doesn’t happen overnight."
B.C. Solicitor General Kash Heed also said Monday the province hopes to have a package of policies and regulations for off-road recreational vehicles – including for snowmobiles operating in dangerous avalanche country – by November 2011
In the wake of the slide, the immediate focus was on the rescue and recovery of those on the mountain at the time, Moskaluk said. On Monday, the number of searchers combing the area was reduced to about 30. Using poles and five avalanche dogs, they continued to search the slope.
But Moskaluk noted no people have been reported missing.
"The $1 million question being posed is: Could there be conceivable thoughts of criminal charges?" Moskaluk said. "We have to look at how this took place. Is there any criminal offence that took place?"
Reaching that point in the investigation will take some time, Moskaluk said. Officers will have to rely on technical experts to map out the scene and examine what factors led up to it, as well as gather information about the event itself and speak with those who participated.
"We’re interested in speaking with as many people as possible," he said.
Survivors told harrowing stories of being swept up by the falling snow as others described the chaos and panic as they searched for their friends.
Witnesses said the avalanche was triggered by a snowmobiler during the competition.
"It just completely wiped out a group of 150 or 200 snowmobilers," said Greg Blair, who saw the avalanche coming and fled on his snowmobile. "Everybody just disappeared – tossed, thrown, taken with the snow. The amount of snow that came down was unbelievable."
The slide was so powerful it "scrambled the machines and wrapped them around each other," according to one eyewitness.
Witnesses said they heard people screaming as they frantically searched amid the wreckage of snowmobiles littered in the snow.
"You could see people’s arms, legs and heads sticking out of the snow," said Calgarian Dewinton Blair, who was at the mountain with his brother and uncle. "They were yelling for help and trying to get out. There were a lot of broken legs, arms and wrists."
As the chaos subsided, survivors organized a line and worked methodically to find missing people, sticking probes into the snow and digging.
Four people were seriously injured – two of them critically – and taken to area hospitals, including one in Kamloops, B.C., where a person remained with a broken neck.
Nineteen people had been released from hospital, police said.
The Canadian Avalanche Centre had issued a special warning on Friday that backcountry snow conditions were "very dangerous."
"Conditions in the mountains for the past six or seven weeks have been very tricky," Karl Klassen, a spokesman for the centre, told reporters at a Sunday news conference. "The snowpack is still very unstable."
Revelstoke is located in eastern British Columbia, approximately 550 kilometres northeast of Vancouver and 400 kilometres west of Calgary.
There have been at least 10 avalanches in the Kootenay-Boundary area since Friday, as snow continues to pile up, creating weak layers in the snowpack that can cause major slides.
With files from Vancouver Sun, Global News and Canwest News Service
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