Friends and family of a Canmore man critically hurt in an avalanche near Golden over the weekend are mourning Thursday (Feb. 25) after the 64 year old passed away as a result of his injuries. Golden RCMP Cst.
Friends and family of a Canmore man critically hurt in an avalanche near Golden over the weekend are mourning Thursday (Feb. 25) after the 64 year old passed away as a result of his injuries.
Golden RCMP Cst. Spencer Lainchbury confirmed the man caught in the avalanche near Esplanade Mountain west of Golden on Sunday (Feb. 21) has died.
The Canmore resident has been identified as Doug Churchill, who was a planning consultant with Devonian Properties and a longtime resident of the community. He was the first employee at Devonian when the development company was formed in 1990 by Stephen Ross.
Churchill was an avid skier, along with his wife Sheila, who was also injured in the avalanche. They were part of a group of 13 skiers in a guided tour when the size two or three avalanche was triggered. Seven members of the group were taken to hospital including a 58-year-old Calgary woman who was airlifted to Kamloops, a 53-year-old Canmore woman, 59-year-old woman from West Vancouver and 34-year-old man from Golden.
Golden and District Search and Rescue (GADSAR) flew into the area by helicopter to transport the patients back to the Golden hospital.
On Saturday (Feb. 20), a deadly avalanche struck a group of four snowmobilers just after noon in the same area.
A 30-year-old Calgary man was killed in Quartz Creek, a popular snowmobile area, about 40 kilometres northwest of Golden.
Golden-Field RCMP said a size three avalanche had been triggered.
Police responded to two people buried by avalanche debris after they received notification that an emergency GPS spot beacon had been activated in the popular snowmobiling area.
A 40-year-old man from Winnipeg was seriously hurt in the incident, but has since been released from a local hospital.
Two other males from Calgary were uninjured.
A special public awareness warning was issued for the B.C.’ s central and southern interior ranges for Friday (Feb. 19) to Monday (Feb. 22), by Avalanche Canada.
The warning applied to both areas affected by avalanches.
Those going into the backcountry with no alpine training should seek some, said Karl Klassen, public warning service manager for Avalanche Canada.
Information to find training courses can be found at avalanche.ca under the “learn” tab.
“Getting training from a professional before going into the backcountry is essential,” he said.
RCMP and emergency crews would like to remind backcountry enthusiasts to check current avalanche conditions through Avalanche Canada’ s website.
