Description
19 year old skier from Quebec was killed and his friend buried in an avalanche while back country skiing on Mount St. Piran in British Colombia. The two boys where swept away in a rush of snow. One boy clung onto a tree and called the police. Steven Colk described himself skiing down Parachute Bowl at Big White resort in B.C. when avalanche almost killed him and that killed his friend. The friend’s name is unannounced for the reason that, the family has yet to identify his body. Mr. Colk had stated that “it was pretty scary” as he felt a wave of snow sweap him off his feet. Mr. Colk and friends heard a hollow popping sound. As they watched a huge slab of the slobe broke away. Mr. Colk said “it took me a second to realize that I was falling”. Mr. Colk estimated that he was caught for about ten seconds and felt as if he was like drawing. Mr. Colk tried to stay above the snow to stay alive. Ironically, an avalanche survival class was taught nearby. The class rushed to the scene to help and look for any survivors. According to the RCMP, the searchers were quickly joined and an avalanche rescue team. At first, six people were missing however, all six were found except for the unannounced boy and Mr. Barnier 21, who worked at the housekeeping resort. Mr. Barnier was last seen skiing before the avalanche occurred. The RCMP is treating this as a missing person’s investigation.
Geographies
Space, Big White Parachute Bowl 2319 meters high with extreme steepness of the double black diamond hill at Parachute Bowl. Place, British Colombia at Big White’s Parachute Bowl ski area. Scale, avalanche covered about 1.6 hectares of the 22.6 hectare bowl on both sides of the chair lift.
Anatomy of a Slab Avalanche
The slab avalanche is a slight weight that can trigger the top layer to loosen and slide down the mountain taking everything with it. It begins at the most volatile area of slope. Surface snow cracks and slides away from fracture line.
Slab information
A fresh snowfall can increase mass to critical level. Buried surface hoar, which is an icy crust that forms at the surface. Depth hoar snow, which is a large low density crystal formed by rising water vapour. As the temperature rises the bottom layer acts like a layer of ball bearings.
National Post News…
Linda Leoni
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