The widow of one of the two men killed in an avalanche in Revelstoke, B.C., over the weekend says her husband's death should have been prevented.
Shay Snortland, 33, of Lacombe, Alta., died when an avalanche crashed down on participants and spectators at the Big Iron Shootout, an unsanctioned snowmobiling competition on Boulder Mountain.
About 200 people were on the hill at the time of the slide. Dozens were buried in the snow and 31 were injured, including two who remain in critical condition and two who are in serious condition.
But warning signs were in place well before the event began. The Canadian Avalanche Centre forecast a high avalanche risk in the region on Saturday morning following a snowstorm on Thursday and Friday. Both the RCMP and the BC Coroners Service are conducting investigations into the incident to determine whether charges should be laid.
Snortland's wife Janine told CTV News on Monday that she doesn't blame anyone for her husband's death.
"He made a bad choice," she said. "There was a bad choice made there. But I think when you have an event, it's not just some guys going up a hill. This is an event and that gives you a false sense of security."
Janine, who has two young daughters, also said she doesn't want to see the competition cancelled, or for organizers to face criminal charges –- but she would like an apology.
"I want to see the people who planned this event take a step forward and say they're sorry," she said.
If the event were sanctioned by the Revelstoke Snowmobiling Club, or the town itself, there would be a responsible party to decide whether avalanche conditions warrant cancelling or moving the competition, she said.
"I want them to be an official event. And when the avalanche risk is so high, let's stop them. We can stop them. We can have the RCMP, instead of digging bodies out, stopping them from going up," she said.
"Let's change it so nobody else has to go through this, because a lot of people were put through a lot."
NDP public safety critic Mike Farnsworth says that the government should also be able to enforce avalanche warnings, for the safety of snowmobilers and of rescue crews who have to risk their lives in the aftermath.
"The province should be able to be in a position to say the avalanche warning is severe, this event isn't going ahead. And we need to be putting those kinds of rules and regulations in place."
At a press conference Monday, B.C. Solicitor General Kash Heed said his office, along with the Ministry of Tourism and the Ministry of Healthy Living and Sport, was developing a comprehensive set of policies surrounding off-road recreational vehicles, to be completed by November 2011.
"This was a tragedy," Heed said. "It's something that, in my mind, could've been prevented."
The policies will likely deal with permits, registrations, licensing and helmet use, Heed said.
With a report from CTV British Columbia's Stephen Smart and files from The Canadian Press
