2 backcountry skiers severely injured after 3 avalanches near Pemberton, B.C.

Three more avalanches came down in the Pemberton area, Saturday afternoon, sending two people to hospital with serious injuries.

Pemberton Search and Rescue told Global News the slides were triggered in the Duffy Lake region of Highway 99 between Pemberton and Lillooet around 2 p.m.

According to a Provincial Health Services Authority spokesperson, one ambulance and one air ambulance responded to the first avalanche and one person was taken to hospital by ground in stable condition.

Two ambulances responded to the second avalanche and one person was transported to hospital in stable condition. An ambulance responded to the third avalanche where no patients were transported to hospital.

“The avalanche reports were all in the general vicinity of Cayoosh and Marriott Mountains,” said Pemberton SAR Manager, Martin Buchheim. “Two separate parties were involved in two separate avalanches, each with one member getting fully buried.”

Each person was dug out by their respective ski partners, however both individuals suffered multiple severe injuries requiring extraction by helicopter and transport to hospital.

The injuries sustained to both individuals were to the chest, pelvis and legs.

“They were unlucky to be caught in an avalanche but they were lucky to be dug out by their partners. Hopefully they’ll be making full recoveries,” said Buchheim.

“I think we need to encourage everybody to be reading the Avalanche Canada bulletins right now. There definitely is some tricky conditions in the avalanche conditions right now and people need to be on-top, that it may not be a normal snowpack.”

Buchheim says the first avalanche was rated a size two, which is strong enough to bury, injure or kill someone and the second was rated a 2.5, which he says is big enough to possibly ‘push a car around.’

These slides come during an already deadly avalanche season province-wide. Already this year, 12 people have been killed in avalanches.

The latest fatal incident happened Mar. 1 near Invermere claiming the lives of three German tourists.

2:17 Avalanche deaths raise questions of Canada’s backcountry tour safety