11 sledders burried, 8 die fernie bc

[myles pierce]

This is a pretty sad story but it could happen to any of us and should remind us all, that avalanche awarness and skills are crucial in backcountry sleddin

One snowmobiler gets stuck in a bowl on the slope, two others come to his aid.
An avalanche buries the three men.
One of the three escapes as another group arrives to assist.
A second avalanche buries all 11 men from the two groups.
Three of the men are not far from the surface. One breaks free and digs out a friend.
A third member of the group cries out, and the two who are free begin digging him out.
While the two are digging, a cornice - an overhang of snow on the side of a mountain - breaks, bringing more snow crashing down. The two men run for safety while the third is buried again.
The two return, find the third man and dig him out after 15 or 20 minutes.
The three men notice a snowmobile on top of the snow that they could reach, but see another cornice above that appears to be dangerous. They decide against further rescue efforts and set out on foot towards Fernie.
About 10 minutes after they leave the scene, they see a fourth cornice fall, bringing more snow down

all sledders were experienced, had all the avalanche gear and are from the same town..
all i gotta say is how many times have you done the same thing.

[zak lavers(a.k.a crazy jew)]

i have never done the same thing.. but my cousin from ROP and a big load of my friends were out on the hills (bluey) and the side give out and my cousin died and all of the friends just got a few minor injuries... it was a tragic day for us and hope it never happens again...

it's also really sad to hear this stuff that prolly happened jsut outside of town ....R.I.P J :(

[myles pierce]

yah its very sad..
what i was trying to say was,, how many times have you or one of your buddies got stuck on a hill and you had to go save him, and you know if an avlanche hit the rest of your crew would be on that hill searching.. could happen so easy.

[Greg]

Its a sad thing to here and see this tragic accident happen on the news, to people who love the out doors and enjoy the free will of snowmobiling , my heart goes out to them and there familys...

[zak lavers(a.k.a crazy jew)]

well then yes it have happen to me.. up on bluey wut they gang they got stuck in da bowl last year and i have went up and got him out..

[sledcrazychick]

This was a very unfortunate accident, the avalanche warnings were high at the time, and these men all knew the risks because they weren't doing any climbing. They were doing everything right from all accounts, had all the safety gear, one had an ABS bag and another had a SPOT transmitter (this is what undoubtedly saved the 3 remaining men). Avalanches are part of the risk of going into the backcountry sledding, anyone who sleds in the mountains has to be aware that you may not make it home, but that shouldn't prevent us from doing what we LOVE!!! A tragedy like that really makes us stop and think about our own immortality. R.I.P. our sledding brothers.....

I just want to mention that the www.snowandmud.com website has a trust fund set up for the families of the 8 men that died from Sparwood. This is so heartbreaking for this small community, and the families will need help to recover from their horrible loss.

[John Smallwood]

My heart goes out to their familys and friends . The backcountry while beautiful does come with risks and can throw unexpected curves your way Be it storm fronts or avalanches...Enjoy yet Respect and be prepared as you can for the unexpected.I witnessed two avalanches last year one small one huge one my fault, one natural...thank god the smaller one was my fault...I learned a valuable lesson.