Mountain guide dies after falling into a crevasse in Banff National Park
A man who fell into a crevasse while leading a backcountry ski group deep in the Canadian Rockies has died.
Friends have identified the man as Rob Coppollilo, a husband, father and the owner of Vetta Mountain Guides based out of Seattle, Washington.
Close friend and professional colleague, Brian Lazar, said Coppollilo was leading a trip when the accident happened and his friend had all the right safety measures in place at the time.
"They were probing safe areas, making sure that the clients were adhering and sticking very close to the established track that they had probed and made sure it was safe from crevasse threat," Lazar said.
On April 18, Parks Canada officials said they received an emergency call from Icefall Lodge, located in a remote area near the Lyell Icefield, about someone who had fallen into a crevasse near Christian Peak in Banff National Park.
Rescuers responded by Alpine Helicopters to the site near the Alberta-BC boundary to find the skier had been extracted and members of the group were providing first aid.
Officials said Coppollilo was in the crevasse for about an hour.
“The visitor safety specialists continued first aid and transported the seriously injured skier to Lake Louise where they were transferred to STARS air ambulance,” said James Eastham with Parks Canada.
STARS confirmed that they then transported the patient suffering from injuries “sustained from a fall in a mountainous area” to Foothills Medical Centre in Calgary.
Stuart Brideaux, a public education officer with Alberta Health Services, said EMS also had ground crews respond to the helipad in Lake Louise and stressed this was a very large collaborative response among many agencies.
“The timing would have had to have been crucial to allow these things to line up. Initially being able to find him and retrieve him in very short order was very, very key obviously. The cold environment in which this occurred as well was a positive factor of all things in this situation,” he said.
“Being able to coordinate between not one but two helicopters to initiate this rescue and ground units to provide that care was all very important.”
Despite rescue efforts, Lazar said Coppollilo suffered severe hypothermia, remained unresponsive in hospital and passed away shortly after.
A GoFundMe page set up on behalf of the family has raised more than $42,000 of its $50,000 goal.
"Robert was a mountain guy, but that was a drop in the bucket of painting the picture of his whole personality," Lazar said. "He was, at this stage of his life, certainly a very competent and experienced mountain guide but also a husband, (and) a really loving father to two twin boys.
Skier Rob Coppolillo and his family.
"He was (also) a prolific author who wrote for all kinds of outdoor publications," Lazar added. "He was a former bike racer, so he has written guides and manuals to both kinds of bike racing and bike maintenance."
“This is an unimaginable loss for Rebecca, Dominic, Luca, and countless friends worldwide. While Rebecca and the boys are strong, support from their friends far and wide is helping to bolster them as they endeavor to navigate their new world without Rob,” wrote the page’s author, Michelle Lazar.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
![](https://www.ctvnews.ca/polopoly_fs/1.6972494.1721646739!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_800/image.jpg)
BREAKING Canadian killed near Gaza border after threatening forces with knife: Israeli police
Israeli police say a Canadian citizen was killed Monday after threatening Israeli security forces with a knife near the Gaza border.
Harris looks to lock up Democratic nomination after Biden steps aside, reordering 2024 race
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris moved swiftly to lock up Democratic delegates behind her campaign for the White House after President Joe Biden stepped aside amid concerns from within their own party that he would be unable to defeat Donald Trump.
What to know about the Canadian ties of Kamala Harris, Biden's choice for successor
U.S. President Joe Biden is stepping aside as the Democratic candidate in that country's November election and throwing his support behind Vice President Kamala Harris -- a Montreal-area high school graduate who spent several years in the city.
The pilot who died in crash after releasing skydivers near Niagara Falls has been identified
Officials on Sunday released the name of a pilot who died in a skydiving flight after her passengers jumped from the aircraft near the Niagara Falls.
Markets bet on second Bank of Canada interest rate cut coming this week
Economists and market watchers are betting the Bank of Canada will deliver another interest rate cut this week amid mounting evidence that inflation is sustainably easing.
10,000 unionized employees return to work, stores to reopen Tuesday: LCBO
Workers are back on the job today at Ontario's main liquor retailer, but the Liquor Control Board of Ontario says stores won't be open for business until Tuesday.
Canadian musicians struggle to get visas to perform in the U.S., some cancel shows
Backlogs and processing delays of temporary U.S. visas required by entertainers, athletes and artists has forced some Canadian bands to cancel U.S. tour dates because paperwork wasn't processed in time.
Mom wants quicker reform on disaster preparations, one year after flood took son
The mother of a boy who died a year ago in a Nova Scotia flood says her grief returns daily, along with frustration over what she considers the province's slow pace in reforming its preparations for climate disasters.
Ottawa man waiting nearly a year for car to be fixed at Acura dealership
An Ottawa man says he’s been waiting nearly a year for his car to be repaired after it was damaged during a storm in August.