Historical Incidents

Incident Summary

Date

2017-04-08

Location

Mount Harvey, Lions Bay

Location Description

Province

BC

Coordinates

49.47588 °, -123.20650 °

Elevation

1652 m

Activity

Snowshoeing & Hiking

Involvement

5

Injury

0

Fatality

5

Description

Five snowshoers hiking on Mount Harvey fell to their death when a cornice collapsed close to the summit. The cornice broke away above the steep north west face, plunging almost vertically for approximately 150 m before triggering a size 3 loose wet avalanche on the slope below. The five victims appear to have been swept down with the snow and were discovered buried in the avalanche deposit in the runout zone. The sixth member of the group had become separated from the main group and did not witness the cornice collapse. He met up with another solo hiker and when they discovered evidence of a freshly separated section of cornice deduced the rest of the group must have fallen down the steep NW face. The weather on the day in question was stormy with the freezing level around 900 m.