3 skiers killed, 4 injured in avalanche near Invermere, B.C.

An avalanche that struck southwest of Invermere, B.C., on Wednesday killed three heli-skiers and injured four others, authorities have confirmed.

The B.C. RCMP's Southeast District said 10 people in total were caught in the avalanche, which was triggered around noon near Panorama Mountain Resort.

All of the skiers were foreign nationals, except for a guide from RK Heliski who was among the injured survivors.

"We're working with the consulate that's specific to the country where they're from to do proper next of kin notification," Cpl. James Grandy told CTV News Thursday.

German newspaper Passauer Neue Presse has reported the victims were from the Passau district in southeast Bavaria.

Some of the survivors were listed in serious condition Thursday but are expected to survive. Three of the skiers managed to escape without injury.

A rescue operation was launched between Panorama Ski Patrol and a local search and rescue team, but authorities said the heli-skiing business involved was able to transport everyone off the mountain with help from other companies.

Grandy said the rescue would have been a daunting task for volunteers.

"Given where these folks were skiing, they had to get into that area with a helicopter – that in and of itself is a huge ask for rescue workers," Grandy said. "Not to mention the still very serious threat of the avalanche."

The survivors were airlifted to Invermere, where firefighters, paramedics and other first responders worked together to transfer the patients to hospital.

Invermere Mayor Al Miller called Wednesday's events "very, very unfortunate," and said the incident caught his town of around 3,400 people off guard.

"We're a small, tight-knit community," Miller told CTV News Calgary. "When that many helicopters start rolling back and forth and back and forth, you know something has gone terribly wrong."

The president and general manager of RK Heliski held a news conference Thursday, offering their condolences to the victims and survivors.

President Tom Brinkerhoff said the tragedy marked the "saddest day" of his four decades with the company.

"The guests and the guides who ski with us each season are part of our family," he said. "It is impossible to put into words the sorrow that we feel and the sadness that is shared by our guests, their families and all of our staff."

So far, 12 people have died in B.C. avalanches this season, making it one of the worst in decades.

The avalanche danger for much of the province remains "considerable," according to Avalanche Canada. The North American Public Avalanche Danger Scale indicates that considerable risk demands "careful snowpack evaluation, cautious route-finding, and conservative decision-making."

Asked how RK Heliski assesses the risks before taking customers into the backcountry, general manager Graham Holt said the company has a dedicated team of professionals certified by the Association of Mountain Guides who follow industry standards set by Helicat Canada.

"This is what we are trained to do as guides, as an organization," Holt said, adding that "in any outdoor activity, you can't eliminate 100 per cent of the risk."

RK Heliski said it has served some 160,000 clients on over 800,000 guided runs since opening in 1970. Bowinn Ma, B.C.'s minister of emergency management and climate readiness, said skiers and snowboarders should seriously assess the terrain they're heading into, and potentially consider delaying trips until conditions improve.

"People who are going out to the backcountry right now need to recognize that a lot of the deaths that we have seen here in British Columbia were from people who were very experienced, or were with guides who were highly experienced," Ma said Thursday.

"Our backcountry is beautiful – it draws people in, it is why a lot of people love living in British Columbia, it is why a lot of people come to visit British Columbia. But as we have seen over the last couple months, it can also be deadly."

With files from CTV News Vancouver's Regan Hasegawa and Shannon Paterson