BURST
A 23-year-old snowmobiler is dead after an avalanche was triggered in the Kootenay Pass on Saturday.
The incident happened at around 12:10 p.m. when Creston RCMP was advised of an SOS activation from a Garmin device mapping to the area of Kootenay Pass. Police were then notified of an avalanche in the area involving two snowmobilers, with one being non-responsive.
Other snowmobilers in the area attempted to help the pair caught in the avalanche before emergency services arrived. Both men were pulled from the snow by the other snowmobilers, but only one survived.
The avalanche was determined to be a size 2.5, meaning it was large enough to be destructive to people and almost large enough to destroy a small building.
Kootenay Pass is a high-elevation mountain pass in the southeast corner of B.C.
Last week, two other snowmobilers from 100 Mile House were found dead after breaking through the ice of Charlotte Lake on Feb. 17, with the lake refreezing and concealing their bodies.
