Avalanche Kills Snowmobiler In Mount Mackie Area Near Castlegar, BC
Castelgar, British Columbia – On Monday, March 14, 2016 a 45-year-old snowmobiler was killed in an avalanche in the Mt Mackie area in the Kootenay Region southwest of Castlegar, British Columbia. The victim has been identified as the “Krazy Canadian,” Dan Davidoff, a legendary extreme snowmobiler (CBC.ca).
The local man had gone out on a day trip, but did not return on time. At approximately 10 PM, the man’s family notified RCMP. The RCMP also received a report that the man’s snowmobile was found partially buried in avalanche debris by another snowmobiler.
SAR teams were notified on Monday evening but did not respond until Tuesday when they flew to the area to assess the situation According to KelownaNow.com, “His body was recovered late Tuesday morning, but efforts to remove his remains from the area are still underway.”
According to the Avalanche.ca Kootenay Boundary Avalanche Forecast Details issued on March 15 at 5:45PM, the avalanche occurred in the Mt Mackie area southwest of Castlegar. This “slab avalanche was size 2.0 at 1900 metres on a northerly aspect, the crown was approximately 100 cm deep and appeared to fail on the February 27th buried surface hoar.”
Click here to read the official Avalanche Canada Avalanche Report about this incident. Here are a few of the details: The avalanche was 80 cm deep, 60 m wide and 50 m long. It failed on a persistent slab on suffice hoar at Treeline at 1920 m on a 40 degree planar slope. The victim was traveling alone.
It’s been a tragic March so far in British Columbia with multiple avalanche fatalities – including two snowmobilers who died on the same day as this tragic accident.
We will try to update this post with more information when it is available.
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Read more about the avalanche fatality near Castlegar, BC from these sources:
- CKNW.com
- GlobalNews.ca
- RosslandNews.com
- CastelgarSource.com
- KelownaNow.com
