Strathcona-Tweedsmuir High School outdoor education class. Just before noon, the group was half way up the north slope of 2570 m-high Mount Cheops, when an avalanche engulfed them. The massive slide, containing an estimated 1,000 tonnes of snow, was 500 to 800 m wide and traveled at break-neck speed down a kilometre of slope. So massive, fast, and powerful was the avalanche that it swept around a corner, went part way up another mountain, then roared down Balu Pass Trail. There, it smashed head on into the 17 skiers, carrying a number of them hundreds of metres down the valley. In less than half a minute, all were buried in the snow, some as deep as four metres. Seven, six boys and one girl, did not survive.

This horrifying incident set off the largest search-and-rescue response in the history of Parks Canada. The first to help were two mountain guides nearby. They witnessed the catastrophe and rushed over to do

what they could. Among those whom they managed to free was a supervising adult with a satellite phone. He immediately called the Glacier National Park wardens, who were on the scene within an hour to coordinate the rescue efforts. Soon joining them were SAR teams from Banff, Lake Louise, and local ski companies, RCMP personnel, and park guides, as well as search dogs and a squadron of eight helicopters. Together, the teams pulled the buried skiers, both the dead and the living, out of the suffocating snow and airlifted them back to the park wardens’ station. The ten who survived suffered minor injuries. The others had been asphyxiated.

Not that the Calgary group hadn’t checkedbefore they set off on that day. While the avalanche risk had been assessed as “considerable” in alpine and tree-line areas, it was rated as only “moderate” – meaning that natural avalanches were unlikely – below the tree line, which is where the skiers were

headed. And the group was well prepared for the trek: the group leader was a certified backcountry guide and the other two adults were experienced backcountry skiers. As well, the group’s safety-and-rescue equipment included the requisite shovels; probes for detecting unstable snow; avalanche beacons (also known as transceivers), which allow rescuers to hone in on buried skiers with beeps and flashing lights. And, of course, there was the satellite phone that was used to alert the park wardens to the situation. All this helped to save the lives of most of the group, in spite of the surprise, speed, and severity of the avalanche that crashed down on them.

In the wake of the tragedy, Parks Canada set up a Back Country Risk Review, which resulted in 36 recommendations. These ranged from standards for contact information (such as having a single emergency contact number that is widely advertised to the public) to enhanced SAR