A Calgary man has been found dead after getting caught up in an avalanche.
The snow slide happened around 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday near the dam on the Spray Lakes Reservoir, south of Canmore.
RCMP officers say two hikers were in the area when the avalanche happened. A 37-year-old man was swept away while his friend watched helplessly. Neither of the hikers was wearing an avalanche transceiver.
Searchers looked for the man on Wednesday. They found a toque and ski pole but had to call the search off before they found the man. "We actually had one of the public safety specialists go in on the end of the heli-sling line with a probe and try to probe around where the toque and ski pole were but he didn't find anything so we had to suspend the operation because we ran out of light," says George Field, a conservation officer.
On Thursday morning, searchers went back into the area. Within an hour, an avalanche search dog found the man under a � metre of snow
The identity of the hiker will not be released until an autopsy is complete.
