Historical Incidents

Incident Summary

Date

2008-12-28

Location

Harvey Pass

Location Description

area near Harvey Pass, SE of Fernie

Province

BC

Coordinates

114.72500 °, 49.26583 °

Elevation

m

Activity

Snowmobiling

Involvement

8

Injury

Fatality

8

Description

Based on the RCMP press report - modified to include additional info from the BCCS incident report: The incident took place when some members from a group of seven snowmobilers were buried by an avalanche in the Harvey Pass area – a popular backcountry snowmobile destination located about 40 Km south of Fernie. One person was completely buried by this first avalanche; several others were partially buried. A second group of four snowmobilers heard yelling from the area and came to the aid of members from the first group who were in the process of digging out their fellow riders. The newly formed group was able to locate the fully burried victim, but as they were digging him out, a second avalanche came down and buried the entire group. All of them were wearing avalanche beacons. Two of the buried riders managed to self-rescue within about 20 minutes. These two used their avalanche beacons to locate a third buried victim who they rescued after an additional 20 minutes of digging. A third avalanche reportedly occurred as the two were digging out the third buried victim and covered the site with powder but did not further bury the third victim. The surviving group of three assessed the slope stability and their surroundings. They were located in a large bowl with massive cornices ready to come down. Based on their risk assessment of the possibility of another avalanche, they began walking out. Survivors reported seeing additional avalanche activity on the site as they were walking out. In total, eight snowmobilers died. All 11 snowmobilers involved were males from the nearby town of Sparwood.