Purcell Mountains, British Columbia – On January 12, 2019 a father and son were killed in an avalanche while snowmobiling on Mount Brewer in the Purcell Mountains southwest of Invermere, British Columbia.
The accident occurred while nine sledders from Calgary were riding in the area. The group triggered the avalanche while high-marking.
Two individuals were caught in the slide. Rescuers responded and found one victim buried two meters deep. They located another transceiver signal near a lake, but were able to located or recover that individual. The next day, a dive team located the victim in the lake.
Avalanche.ca reports that this size 3 avalanche occurred on January 12, 2019 while a group of snowmobilers were riding on a southeast-south slope on Mount Brewer in the Purcell Mountains of British Columbia. The avalanche was a deep persistent slab that ran 200-400 meters wide and 900-1100 meters long. The slide ended in a lake. Two individuals were killed. One victim had activated his airbag and was still buried two meters deep. The other was recovered from the lake by a dive team. A photo of the slide is available here.
GlobalNews.ca identified the victims as 51-year-old Larry Burdiga and 24-year-old Matt Burdiga.
We will try to update this post when more information is available.
See Also: Global Avalanche Accidents 2018/2019
Read more about the avalanche near Invermere, BC from the following sources:
- CBC.ca
- Calgary.ctvNews.ca
- ColumbiaValleyPioneer.com
- SledderMag.com
- TheWeatherNetwork.com
- CalgaryHerald.com
