Lake Louise, Alberta – Friday, staff from Parks Canada have recovered the bodies of two individuals who were caught in an avalanche this past weekend in Banff National Park. The RCMP has identified the deceased and will confirm that they are a 32-year-old man and woman from Boston, Mass.
A joint media availability was held Friday between RCMP and a Parks Canada Visitor Safety Specialist at the Parks Canada Warden Compound.
On Tuesday, March 14, 2017 at 10 a.m., RCMP in Golden, B.C. received a missing persons complaint from a hotel in the town of Field, B.C. Hotel staff reported to police that two registered guests who were expected to check out on Monday had not done so and their room appeared untouched. Golden RCMP forwarded this information to the Lake Louise RCMP detachment and a missing persons investigation was launched.
Early information was that the pair were a 32-year-old man and 32-year-old woman who were visiting from Boston, Mass. and were on a snow-shoe trip. The man and woman were last seen on Saturday, March 11 when they had breakfast in Field, B.C. RCMP investigators were able to determine the vehicle that had been rented by the missing pair and notified Parks Canada Visitor Safety just after noon on Tuesday.
At 3 p.m. on Tuesday, the rental vehicle was found at the Mount Hector trailhead on Highway 93 north. Snow cover on the vehicle and in the parking lot indicated that the car had been parked there for some time. Visitor Safety specialists hiked up the mountain and saw that the area had been hit by one or more avalanches.
Information revealed in the investigation, including a review of the timeline of when the pair were last seen, lead to the conclusion that the man and woman had perished in the avalanche. Due to weather issues and a risk of further avalanches, recovery efforts were not possible until Friday.
“On behalf of the RCMP, I want to offer our sincere condolences to the families and friends of these two people in this difficult time” said Corporal Curtis Peters of the RCMP.