Avalanche in B.C. backcountry claims life of a skier
An avalanche in the Selkirk mountain range near Revelstoke, British Columbia (B.C.), resulted in the death of Canada’s Ronald Gregory Sheardown on Friday, December 30, making it a second avalanche-related casualty in B.C. in just two days.
Royal Canadian Mounted Police Cpl. Dan Moskaluk said in a statement on Saturday that, “The investigation has determined that the guided group were heli-skiing in an area 32 km southeast of Revelstoke, and between 13:30 and 14:00 MST, a skier triggered an avalanche while the group was on the Selkirk run located in the Holyk Creek drainage.”
The 45-year-old Sheardown was heli-skiing with a group of 11 skiers, which included a Canadian Mountain Holidays (CMH) guide, south-east of Revelstoke when the avalanche hit the area.
Four skiers got caught in the avalanche, with three of them getting buried in snow partially while the fourth one, Sheardown, getting swallowed by the snow completely.
CMH immediately responded to the incident by making a series of emergency radio calls and helicopter trips. Three guides from the CMH reached the site in just a few minutes to provide emergency help and begin rescue efforts. Additional CMH snow safety guides, as well as experts from CMH’s competitor company Selkirk Tangiers Heli Skiing came rushing to the site from neighbouring ski areas.
The three partially buried skiers were pulled free unharmed and given medical help while the search began for Sheardown. He was eventually located through his avalanche transceiver. The CMH crew and physicians made efforts to revive him, but it turned out to be too late for the Canadian. He was flown off to Queen Victoria Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Sheardown was serving as a CEO of the Middle East operations of construction material supplier Lafarge in United Arab Emirates (UAE). He left behind his wife and three sons.
The Canadian was the second casualty of an avalanche in B.C. backcountry in just a matter of two days. Just a day earlier, a snow-slide outside Pemberton had taken the life of a Whistler-Blackcomb ski patroller Duncan MacKenzie who was skiing out there with his three friends.
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