Two skiers were lucky to escape with their lives after being swept away in an avalanche at Sunshine Village’s extreme terrain at Delirium Dive on Monday (March 31).
The two locals, in their late 20s, were both hospitalized as a result. Dustin Schellenberg of Banff was listed in serious but stable condition in Calgary’s Foothills Hospital. Andy Richard of Canmore was in stable condition and also taken from Mineral Springs Hospital to Calgary.
The avalanche took place in a run called Milky Way in the free-ride zone of Delirium Dive at about 2 p.m. Skiers and snowboarders in the area raced to find and dig out the two buried skiers before resort ski patrollers arrived to help stabilize the men before getting them off the mountain.
One report indicated a wall of snow pushed the skiers over a cliff band in the Dive, which was open at the time of the avalanche. A spokesman for Sunshine said avalanche control work is done regularly in the expert-only inbounds area.
“The incident is under investigation – how did it happen and what happened, what could we do to make sure it never happens again?” said Crosbie Cotton, a spokesman for Sunshine ski resort.
“Our thoughts are with these people and we hope they recover quickly. We are thinking of them and their family and friends.”
Sunshine Village markets Delirium Dive and Wild West as the country’s most extreme off-piste ski experience. The ski resort’s website warns that conditions in Delirium Dive change constantly and there is avalanche danger that may require closure on short notice.
Monday’s incident may allegedly be the second avalanche to catch a skier inbounds this spring at the ski hill. Don Tremblay of Canmore was skiing in Wild West on March 12 and was at the bottom of Peyto Chute with a friend when two snowboarders above them triggered an avalanche.
“Suddenly I look up over my left shoulder and I saw some snow coming down and I was hoping that it was only a slide, so I pushed myself to get out of there,” Tremblay said. “It caught me through the legs and started pushing me towards the fall line, so I turned my ski to go with it and then I got hit in the back by a big wave of snow.
“I lost one ski and… I told myself to swim. I was just seeing white and I started swimming and then suddenly it turned pitch black. I could not see anything, I could not move my arms above my head and then I was bouncing like a pinball through the trees and feeling I was hitting trees with my arms. I was trying to grab a tree and I almost got one, but it turned me sideways and I was pinched against a tree.”
The two snowboarders and his friend helped dig him out and Tremblay skied himself out and ski patrol was informed of the incident, although Tremblay did not stay at the hill to file a full report. He suffered a hematoma in his left leg and bruising of his ribs and chest where he was pinned against the tree.
Cotton said the incident in Wild West wasn’t an actual avalanche.
“There wasn’t an avalanche,” Cotton said. “There was no report filed. A skier in Wild West got caught up in a little sluff – small sliding snow – and didn’t want to file a report and skied off and there were no injuries that we know of any kind.
“If we don’t have a reported incident, it is impossible to do something.”
Delirium Dive was opened by Sunshine on Feb. 27, but Milky Way was not opened until last Friday (March 28). Wild West has been open since mid February.
Tremblay said after his experience, and the avalanche on Monday which caught Schellenberg and Richard, he doesn’t think high risk terrain should be open due to the avalanche danger.
“I have been skiing at Sunshine for a long time, especially in Delirium Dive and Wild West, and it was the first year people have been caught in an avalanche like that – it never happened before,” he said, adding it is an especially dangerous avalanche season this year. “It is a special year as well – it is very dangerous everywhere, so I don’t understand why Sunshine still opened it.”
To enter Delirium Dive there are mandatory safety requirements. Users must carry and know how to use an avalanche transceiver, carry a shovel, carry collapsible avalanche probes and must be with at least one other person.
From the top of the Continental Divide lift, skiers follow signs to a check-in gate and cannot go any further unless they meet the requirements. “There is a gate triggered by the equipment,” Cotton said. “You cannot get in without it.”
Once through the check-in gate, it is a small hike up to the Delirium Dive entrance.
Cotton said Sunshine does avalanche work, including with the use of explosives, in Delirium Dive. “It’s done regularly,” he said.
Sunshine Village posts a phone number on its website for people to check the status of Delirium Dive – 403-762-6511. For information on the latest avalanche conditions throughout the mountain national parks, please visit: http://avalanche.pc.gc.ca.
