After a nearly two hour effort to free a woman who was buried under roughly four metres of packed snow in the Sentinel Pass on Thursday, the skier escaped from the snow without any serious injuries.
Tim Banfield, Maia Shoe and a third unidentified skier were skinning their way towards Mount Temple on Thursday afternoon when a slab released. According to Banfield, he was able to avoid the slide but Shoe was left partially buried by snow and the other member of their group disappeared from sight.
Banfield says Shoe managed to free herself from the snow and the two started to search for the missing woman utilizing their search beacons. After receiving a four metre reading, Banfield and Shoe began to poke into the snow with their probes but a 320 centimetre probe, the longest of their probes, failed to find the skier.
The two began to dig until they reached a depth where the probe contacted what would prove to be the skier’s pack. Sound emerged through the snow and the rescuers determined where her head was.
According to Banfield, it was roughly 10 to15 minutes after the slide when he found the missing woman’s mouth and cleared the snow surrounding it. The woman, who was still in her skis, began to talk and indicated she was alright. The other members of her group attempted to keep her warm using puffies and hot tea.
Banfield estimates it took more than two hours to free the skier from the snow.
An emergency signal alerted Parks Canada wardens to their location. A helicopter airlifted the three skiers from the scene and no members of the group suffered injuries requiring additional medical attention.
Parks Canada officials say the avalanche fracture was 225 metres wide and it slid approximately 200 metres.
Banfield credits a viral video of a backcountry rescue with providing information on what to do in the event of an avalanche.
