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[OldSki]

I won a five days/five nights trip for two to Big White as part of this year's Warren Miller promotional tour. Don't think I'll be telling the wife about this incident, otherwise we'll be stuck skiing the kiddie runs and riding the inner tubes.

[indent]http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national...1b-a91c6f79d739

Published: Monday, January 07, 2008
KELOWNA - Volunteers, avalanche-class students, ski patrollers and RCMP are scouring Big White ski resort near Kelowna for any other people who might have been buried in a surprise avalanche on the mountain Sunday morning.

But a Big White spokesman said it's not clear whether anyone else was caught in the 10:56 a.m. avalanche, which partially buried two skiers before they were pulled out.

"It's good news so far," said Michael Ballingall on Sunday afternoon. "They've been out there for a good four hours with a team of 50 and two dogs and they haven't found anything yet."

Ballingall said about 30 people on the chair over the area witnessed the avalanche and reported that they thought as many as five people had been caught.

But throughout the afternoon, mountain officials have had reports that people who at first were thought to be missing have turned up. They were waiting for skiers to return to their condos to confirm whether there is anyone still unaccounted for.

Ballingall said the avalanche took place on a run called Parachute Bowl, just below a cliff at the top of the mountain. Mountain staff had been doing avalanche-control work on a daily basis and had done blasts in the area Sunday.The avalanche, which covered 1.5 hectares, was seen instantly by ski patrollers at the top of the cliff above the run who rescued the two partially buried skiers.

Ballingall said it's the first time Big White has ever had an avalanche during the day while the mountain was open.

This winter has already proven to be a dangerous one for avalanches, with avalanches experts warning that snow conditions have made them much more likely than usual.

Vancouver Sun

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This post has been edited by OldSki: 07 January 2008 - 08:16 AM

[Aussierob]

UPDATE

Body identified as missing snowboarder
Linda Nguyen , CanWest News Service
Published: Tuesday, January 08, 2008
The body of a man found buried by an avalanche in Kelowna, B.C. has been identified as an Australian working at a B.C. resort.

Crews found the body of Leigh Barnier, 21, late Monday afternoon at the Big White Ski Resort after a searching for the missing snowboarder for more than a day.

Barnier was last seen by his friends an hour prior to the avalanche Sunday, telling them that he was going to go for "one more run," according to the RCMP.


Leigh Barnier was reported missing on Sunday morning.
He had been working for a private contractor in the resort's housekeeping department.

Originally, six people had been unaccounted for during the avalanche, including a man and young boy who were rescued early Sunday.

By Monday, Barnier was the only one of the six still missing.

According to an Australian news website, news.com.au, Barnier was a recent university graduate in Canada on a "working holiday."

The Sydney native was also a national swimming champion, the website reported