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Banff National Park experiencing record river rescues

“If you don’t know anything about navigating a river in a canoe or a raft and if you don’t have the appropriate equipment, then don’t get on the river."

BANFF – High regional visitation to Banff, Yoho and Kootenay national parks has led to an unprecedented number of river rescues, including two drownings this summer.

On top of the two fatalities, rescuers say there have been many close calls involving inexperienced paddlers floating in cheap inflatable toys on the Bow River getting caught in dangerous sweepers and log jams.

“We’ve had significantly more incidents and close calls related to water in Banff National Park this summer,” said Brian Webster, Parks Canada’s visitor safety manager for Banff, Yoho and Kootenay national parks.

“The incidents involve people either going into the Bow River in glorified floaty toys and getting into trouble, or people who are getting very close to a river to get photos or enjoy the river edge – and then slip and fall in.”

In the most recent drowning was a 34-year-old Calgary woman died after being swept over a waterfall at Tokumm Creek and through Marble Canyon in Kootenay National Park on Aug. 16. 

A man who tried to save her also went over the waterfall and into the 12-metre deep slot canyon – which has a series of cascades beyond the first big drop waterfall – and remarkably survived.

In this case, rescuers say the woman had climbed or gone around the fence at the top of the canyon. She was part of a group getting photos taken when she fell into the fast-flowing creek about 18 metres upstream of the top waterfall.

“It was swift-moving water and she was trying to get to shore, but very quickly got pushed downstream and went over the first waterfall,” said Webster.

“She got flushed through the whole canyon – about 800 metres long – and then got washed ashore at the bottom end of the canyon. She was determined to be deceased.”

The man trying to save the woman went over the first waterfall into the canyon – where there are a series of cascades – but was able to get himself onto logs spanning the narrow channel and yell for help.

“People heard him calling for help fairly quickly, but he was down in the canyon 30 metres deep and so nobody was able to do anything,” said Webster, noting a bystander raced to Highway 93 South to raise the alarm.

An Alpine Helicopters Inc. rescue pilot quickly flew a rescue team from Banff to the site, where a technical rope system was used to send a rescuer down into the slot canyon and bring the man to safety.

“We felt pretty good about that … we definitely saved a life there,” said Webster.

“It was good to get there quick enough and get this fellow out while he was still able to hang onto the log.”

While the search for a 23-year-old man from India presumed drowned after falling into the North Saskatchewan River on July 25 has been scaled back, rescuers continue to look for him in the hope of giving his family some closure.

In that case, the man was also getting his photograph taken when he slipped into the fast-flowing waters.

“We are doing weekly searchers and we hope that as we get lower water levels later on in the summer and into the fall that we’ll have some success,” said Webster.

“We’ve scaled back, but we haven’t given up.”

In addition, Parks Canada has responded to countless incidents involving inexperienced people floating the Bow River, particularly on hot, summer days, getting caught in log jams and sweepers.

“This is the crowd that on nice hot days purchase cheap inflatable toys that may be appropriate for a beach or lakefront, but they are not appropriate for fast-moving rivers,” said Webster.

In some cases, the inflatable boats get punctured and the paddlers are stranded. In others, it’s more serious.

“We’ve had several really close calls where people have gone underwater in the vicinity of log jams or sweepers and they’ve managed to get out and call for help,” said Webster.

“In other cases, they’ve lost their raft and now are stranded on an island, or the edge of the river, and they call us for assistance.,”

The message from Parks Canada’s public safety team is clear.

“If you don’t know anything about navigating a river in a canoe or a raft and if you don’t have the appropriate equipment, then don’t get on the river,” said Webster.

The hazards of a fast-moving river are not always obvious, and consequently, people don’t always take the care and caution needed on riverbanks.

“If you contrast this with a person approaching the edge of a cliff, the hazard is very obvious and people exercise caution when they are doing so,” said Webster.

“We would like people to be more aware of the very real hazard associated with fast-moving water and take appropriate precautions.”

One of the main hazards unique to mountain rivers is the extremely cold water temperature, often hovering between 5 and 10 C.

“The water is so cold you get this shock reaction where you can’t react,” said Webster.

“Even if you are a swimmer, you might not be able to react immediately because of the cold water, and if you don’t react immediately that might be the amount of time it takes to be out of control and going helplessly down the river.”

The other big piece of advice from Parks Canada for paddlers is to always wear a personal flotation device (PFD) or life jacket.

“That is, in fact, the law and they save lives,” said Webster.

Since June, there have been 15 presumed or confirmed drownings across Alberta, which is almost double the number of cases compared to the same time frame last year.

Following a nine-day search, 16-year-old Blessing Paul from Calgary was found underwater on Aug. 17 after being swept under the surface of the Bow River, downstream of Seebe Dam.

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