A new online tool documents every known avalanche fatality in Canada dating back more than two centuries.
Avalanche Canada launched the Fatal Avalanche Incidents database on Wednesday. It features an interactive map showing hundreds of records of deaths from avalanches across Canada, dating back to 1782. The majority of the incidents were in British Columbia, though there are also records from Yukon, Nunavut, Ontario and Atlantic Canada.
James Floyer, the program director with Avalanche Canada, said it took nearly three years to compile and digitize avalanche records and develop the online tool. It includes detailed expert incident analyses and comparative statistics showing long-term trends and patterns.
Floyer said the historic cases include the Rogers Pass disaster of 1910, considered one of Canada’s mostly deadly avalanche incidents.
The online tool includes first-person accounts of the disaster that took place about 70-kilometres east of Revelstoke, B.C. A crew had been clearing the way for a locomotive after an avalanche, when they were buried by a second avalanche, leaving 58 dead. One man survived and lived until 1973.
Floyer also notes some other significant avalanche incidents recorded in B.C., like the Britannia Mine disaster of 1915 that left 57 dead.
He said many of the earlier recorded avalanche disasters were related to industries like mining or railways, but improved worker protections and infrastructure mean there have been far fewer work-site avalanche deaths in recent decades. He said nearly all avalanche deaths over the past four decades were related to recreational activities in the backcountry.
Data show Canada sees an average of 11 avalanche-related deaths each year, with March tending to be the deadliest month.
The 2008-09 season was the deadliest in the past 20 years, with 26 fatalities. That season included a December 2008 incident in Harvey Pass, B.C., about 50 kilometres south of Fernie, where eight snowmobilers died in a series of avalanches.
Avalanche Canada said it hopes the information will help improve the understanding of avalanche risks for backcountry users.
“Every entry in this database does reflect a person or in some cases, groups of people who lost their lives in the mountains, and every one of those is a tragedy,” said Floyer. “At the same time, each one of those is an opportunity to learn something.”
He said the online tool will continue to be updated in the coming years.
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