Mounties have identified the two people killed in an avalance in the backcountry of B.C.'s Kootenays on Wednesday as travellers from the U.S. and England.
Katie Arin, 32, of Salt Lake City and London resident Ryan Keene, 30, were in a commercially-guided group of four being led through the Bonnington Mountain range near Blewett when the slide hit at around 10 a.m.
Investigators say the group had just completed a run and were waiting to be picked up at a landing area by helicopter when the slide hit.
"The guide instructed all to run, however they were unable to evade its path," the RCMP said in a statement.
The guide and one skier were able to rescue themselves in the aftermath and dig out the other skiers, though Keene died at the scene and Arin was found unresponsive. She died of her injuries that afternoon.
The guide and remaining members of the group were taken to Kootenay Boundary Regional Hospital in Trail and Kootenay Lake Hospital in Nelson to be treated for minor injuries, according to BC Ambulance.
The BC Coroners Service investigation is ongoing.
