- A man who was caught in an avalanche in Alberta dialed 911 for help after falling some 820 feet.
- He was found by two rescuers who built him a temporary tarp shelter to keep him warm.
A skier caught in an avalanche in Alberta, Canada, on February 3 was saved by two rescuers who hiked for hours to reach him, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, or CBC, reported on Sunday.
The man, who has not been identified by name in media reports, is in his thirties and is from Nelson, British Columbia, per the CBC. He went off the ski path at Castle Mountain Ski Resort on Friday afternoon and was caught in an avalanche, the ski resort's sales and marketing manager, Cole Fawcett, told the media outlet.
Rescuers from the Southwest Alberta Regional Search and Rescue, or SARSAR, a volunteer organization that helps the police with rescue missions, told the CBC they estimated that the skier had fallen 820 feet during the avalanche.
The man managed to dial 911 for help at around 4 p.m., a spokesperson for SARSAR told Insider.
Two rescuers from SARSAR — Amanda Goodhue and Madeline Martin — hiked for two hours through the mountain's rocky terrain to reach the man, per the CBC.
It was around 8 p.m. when Goodhue and Martin reached the man, hours after the sunset at 5:30 p.m. in Alberta. Rescue operations in the dark are riskier, SARSAR's spokesperson told Insider, which is why rescue operations usually take place in the daytime.
Though the man's condition was stable, he was too injured to be transported down the mountain. While waiting for backup, Goodhue and Martin tried to keep the injured man warm by building a temporary shelter in the snow, per the CBC.
"We initially dug ourselves a shelter and built a tarp shelter for our patient, we prioritized that, and just got him sort of comfortable," Goodhue told the CBC.
A second crew of rescue workers reached the group at 1 a.m. with more supplies. The man was finally airlifted off the mountain via helicopter at around 9 a.m. the following morning, per the CBC.
The man sustained injuries to his back, neck, and legs, Troy Savinkoff, a spokesman for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, told the CBC.
"In my estimate, another 200 feet lower, he wouldn't have had cell service. That would have been blocked by an adjacent mountain," Marty Reed, a corporal in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, told the CBC.
SARSAR told Insider the organization does not have "information regarding the subject nor their injuries."
According to Avalanche Canada's annual report in 2021, there were 104 avalanche fatalities in Canada from 2012 to 2021. Most of these accidents involved skiers and people riding snowmobiles.
Representatives at Castle Mountain Ski Resort and the Kananaskis Country public safety program — which is in charge of helicopter rescue services in the region — did not respond immediately to Insider's requests for comment.