A woman from Ontario died after falling into an area of deep snow while going down a run at Sunshine Village in Alberta’s Rocky Mountains.
It happened around 3 p.m. Saturday at the ski resort in Banff National Park.
The 47-year-old Toronto woman was skiing when she fell off of the side of the green-level ski-out run called Banff Avenue and into deep area called a snow immersion, Sunshine Village spokesperson Kendra Scurfield confirmed.
“Our snow safety patrol medic team was alerted to an incident on Upper Banff Avenue, which is a green run off of the Wolverine Express chair, to a woman who had fallen off of Banff Avenue,” Scurfield said.
The snow patrol got there within three minutes of being notified a woman was down and arrived to find her unconscious.
“She was unresponsive at the scene. They did spend over two hours doing CPR and basically emergency medicine on the side of the run with hopes to revitalize her.”
Emergency crews, including a STARS air ambulance team out of Calgary, responded to the ski hill on Saturday afternoon.
Scurfield said the trauma team was prepared to airlift the woman to Calgary, but she was declared dead on scene and STARS was sent back to its base without transporting any patients.
It’s not known if the woman suffered a medical episode prior to falling or if the fall caused it, but she had been skiing right beforehand.
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“The fall was witnessed by bystanders (who) watched her fall just off of the trail into a pocket of soft snow,” Scurfield said.
Snow immersions are areas of deep, loose snow that are usually found at the base of trees and often also called tree wells.
They form when low branches block snow from settling, creating a hidden hazard that skiers and snowboarders can fall into and be injured or suffocate.
Scurfield said incidents like this are not common.
Banff Avenue goes from the main ski area to the parking lot and gondola at the base of the mountain and as a green run, is considered a relatively easier route that isn’t too steep or challenging.
“She was skiing down a run that many people ski,” Scurfield said.
Alberta RCMP Cpl. Troy Savinkoff said the exact cause of the woman’s death has not been determined but it’s not considered suspicious.
Sunshine expressed its condolences to the woman’s family, who asked Global News to not share her identity at this time.
With a file from The Canadian Press
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