Parks Canada Search and Rescue crews have resumed their hunt for an ice climber swept away by a Thursday evening avalanche in Banff National Park.
The missing airman has been identified as 44-year-old Sgt. Mark Salesse, a member of the 435 Transport and Rescue Squadron of 17 Wing at Canadian Forces Base in Winnipeg.
According to Canadian Armed Forces officials, Sgt. Salesse, an experienced Search and Resccue (SAR) technician was taking part in a routine mountain training exercise with his team under clear conditions. The weather deteriorated and an avalanche occurred.
Sgt. Salesse's climbing partners launched a search for the missing man and norified Parks Canada.
Poor conditions on Friday inhibited a ground search of the area surrounding the Polar Circus ice climbing route.
“This location is still under high avalanche danger,” explained Tania Peters, Parks Canada Public Relations and Communications Officer, in a Friday evening interview with CTV. “We’re unable to put our search and rescue, our visitor safety specialists, in there to conduct a ground search to look for this person because we don’t want to put those people at risk.”
An aerial sweep of the region provided no input into Sgt. Salesse’s whereabouts. The search of the relatively small area has been complicated by weather, snow cover, and difficult terrain.
On Saturday afternoon, a military spokesperson declared the search for Sgt. Salesse as a recovery mission.
Ice climber Jason Budd continues to hold hope his friend Mark Salesse survived the avalanche.
"If anyone can survive it's Mark," said Jason.
