Local Avalanche Incidents

April 20th, 2016 - Mineral Mountain Area, Chilkat Pass

Location:136.66W, 59.5487N, Chilkat Pass, BC, Canada
Date/Time of Occurrence: 4/20/2016
Mode of Travel:ski, access by snowmachine
Accident Type: Cliff Fall and Full Burial
Number in Party: 4
Persons Buried: 1
Persons Injured: 0
Persons Killed: 1
Accident Details:
Type: L - Loose snow avalanche
Trigger: ASu - Artificial, Skier, unintentional
Size: 1.5
Sliding Surface:unknown
Aspect: NE
Elevation: 1600m
Slope Angle: unknown
Depth: unknown

Details of the Incident:

Details from Avalanche Canada: "While skiing on steep rib feature, an athlete on a film shoot triggered a small loose dry avalanche. Skied or possibly swept over small cliff off planned line of descent. Landed in flat spot/hollow and buried by small avalanche that came over cliff from behind. Possibly a very thin soft slab may have been involved as well as loose snow avalanche."

Limited additional details gathered by HAIC: The skier was fully buried about 50cm deep and there was some form of beacon search required to dig them out. It is unclear whether the victim died as a result of trauma or asphyxiation.

Initial CBC news story