A Calgary woman’s body was recovered this weekend in the back country near Sunshine Meadows after she got lost while cross-country skiing. The woman, in her 50s, set out alone from the Sunshine Village ski hill on Saturday (Dec.
A Calgary woman’s body was recovered this weekend in the back country near Sunshine Meadows after she got lost while cross-country skiing.
The woman, in her 50s, set out alone from the Sunshine Village ski hill on Saturday (Dec. 20) at noon and headed towards Quartz Ridge in the Sunshine Meadows area. Her son reported her overdue to ski patrol at 8 p.m. according to Parks Canada public safety specialist Aaron Beardmore.
“Because she was a solo cross-country skier there will always be some questions as to what exactly happened, ” he said. “Ski patrol initiated a search immediately adjacent to the ski area boundary near Sunshine Meadows to see if they could pick up her track as the Parks Canada team that consisted of Conrad Janzen, myself and dog handler Mike Henderson got organized in Banff with snowmobiles and made our way up to the ski area. ”
The rescuers met ski patrol at Rock Isle Lake and coordinated the search into two teams. Beardmore said on snowmobiles they headed towards Quartz Ridge and picked up on a track.
“It was clearly a cross-country track that was based on the narrow width of the skis and also due to the fact that when that track went up hill it was a herringbone pattern, or a side stepping pattern, indicating they didn’t’ have climbing skins, ” he said. “We regrouped as a group of five and followed the track as far as we could on snowmobiles to an area that is virtually directly below Quartz Ridge.
“We almost lost the track because it was snowing and windy and we were just piecing together little pieces of the track that were sticking out sometimes 10 to 15 metres apart. We were very determined to keep tracking at that period of time, so we didn’t lose the track as more snow and more wind came in. ”
Beardmore said at that point Sunshine Village ski patrol returned to the hill and they continued tracking without them to the headwaters of Howard Douglas Creek below Howard Douglas Lake. He said as the tracks progressed they had less direction and purpose and showed signs the person was getting tired and disoriented. They found a ski pole at 1:45 a.m. and then found the woman deceased soon after at 2:10 a.m.
“We were very uncertain as to exactly how long she had been there and it was anywhere between three and eight hours and it depended on so many factors and we will never really know, ” he said. “It depends how fast she was travelling did she stop for any lengthy periods of time. ”
With guidance of an emergency physician they attempted CPR for an hour, as there was no possibility of a helicopter evacuation at that point in time. In the morning Alpine Helicopters and Parks Canda responded to remove the woman’s body and RCMP investigated.
Beardmore said the skier chose an outdoor activity that was reasonable in an area well suited to cross-country skiing.
“But I think if people aren’t intimately familiar with the area they need to inform themselves as much as possible before they embark on their trip and that includes a whole bunch of different things, ” he said, pointing to consulting avalanche conditions and a map to pre plan a route.
He also said if lost in the back country or things don’t go according to plan you can back track to the point of origin or if all else fails and you have left a detailed itinerary with someone - people will be searching.
“Stay in one spot to retain energy and keep warm versus expending energy to travel further when you don’t know which way you are going, ” he said.
