Monday, December 29, 2008

This Is So Sad, And Scary!

You all know my family just got back from a trip to Kelowna. What many who have never been to the Rockies don't know, is that the threat of avalanches are always present, not just in the outback, but on the Trans Canada Highway.

I hope that the last person missing will somehow be found alive, but I suspect that will not be the case.

Rescue crews find seventh body at avalanche site

Rescue crews have found a seventh body after avalanches struck a group of snowmobilers in a backcountry area near Fernie, B.C., on the weekend. One person is still missing.

The group was hit by back-to-back avalanches on Sunday, burying a total of 11 people. Three escaped, and officials began a desperate search for the remaining eight.


This is very sad news for all those families, my heart goes out to them. Meanwhile, at the Globe and Mail, some of the comments were disgusting and very uninformed:

Catalina Nina from Canada writes: I am wondering who pays the cost of rescue and care for those irresponsible faux-sportsmen. It's time to make that kind of people pay for themselves.
"That kind of people"??? I guess my family was irresponsible because we were traveling on the Trans Canada Highway.

As you drive through the Rockies, you see signs that say "Avalanche Area, Do Not Stop", and around Revelstoke you go through 8 snow tunnels like this one:


If that's not enough to convince Catalina that the danger exists not just to those who go snowmobiling in the outback, here is a picture taken on the Trans Canada, where we were stopped for over an hour because they were doing avalanche control.



My family thanks the dedicated people who keep the mountain roads clear, and the people who keep the avalanche threat to a minimum. To idiots like Catalina, I have no words to fight such stupidity.

1 comment:

Bec said...

Those same stupid people vote, unfortuneately.

The incident with the Strathcona Tweedsmeer students reminds me of this one.
My youngest daughter, was in outdoor leadership at her HS, 2 year prior and it hit the whole program in Calgary, like a lead balloon.
These thing happen out there, to the best prepared, in the world. That bimbo is an idiot!