Avalanche On Mount Victoria Sweeps Trevor Sexsmith Off 300-Foot Cliff | 1st Avalanche Fatality Of The 2016/2017 Winter Season
Mount Victoria, Alberta – On Sunday, September 25, 2016 Trevor Sexsmith, age 27, was caught in an avalanche on Mount Victoria (3,464m / 11,365′) in the Bow Range near the BC/Alberta border. The avalanche dragged Sexsmith over a 300-foot cliff and he did not survive.
Sexsmith and a skiing partner from the Lake Louise area set out from Chateau Lake Louise in an attempt to climb and ski the Sickle on Mount Victoria in Banff National Park (Gripped.com). The two experienced ski mountaineers decided to turn around due to strong winds and poor weather conditions, they descended via their ascent route. Sexsmith was the first to descend and was likely the one who triggered the avalanche. The avalanche was unwitnessed because the two skiers became separated due to terrain.
The ski partner came across Sexsmith at the bottom of the cliff, cleared his airway, but could find no signs of life. He skied out to the viewpoint near Plain of Six Glaciers tea house and called for help. Weather prohibited any search efforts on Sunday.
Parks Canada located the body early on Monday morning in an area commonly called “The Death Trap” due to multiple hazards. The body was found “on the Banff side of the approach to Abbot Pass, which separates Alberta’s Banff National Park from British Columbia’s Yoho National Park” (CBC.ca).
At this point, the avalanche on Mount Victoria is being reported as a size one avalanche that was likely human triggered. It occurred on a 40 degree slope. FirstTracksOnline.com reports that the avalanche was 20 to 30 meters wide and 10 to 15 cm deep. There was no official avalanche hazard warning issued for this time period.
On September 24, 2016 MountainConditions.com reported “Today we observed human triggered avalanche activity at 3000 m elevation on Mt. Victoria and we expect this condition to exist throughout the Lake Louise group. Strong winds in the area have stripped away any soft snow and created wind slabs which appear to be easily triggered.”
Sexsmith was originally from Coldwater, Ontario, but was currently living in Golden, BC. He learned to ski at Mount St. Louis Moonstone (GlobalNews.ca).
This is the first avalanche fatality of the 2016/2017 North America season.
We will update this post as more information becomes available.
We’ve been following Trevor Sexsmith and his big ski descents in British Columbia and Alberta for years. He documented his descents on his ski blog, PerpetualSki.ca. You can see some of his ski videos on Facebook and Vimeo.
This is an incredibly sad way to start the season. RIP.
Read more about the avalanche on Mount Victoria that killed Trevor Sexsmith from these sources:
- CalgaryHerald.com
- FirstTracksOnline.com
- RMOutlook.com
- CBC.ca
- GlobalNews.ca
- GlobalNews.ca
- Gripped.com
