B.C. heli-ski company suspends service after avalanche that killed three

A heli-ski company in northwestern British Columbia says one of its guides is undergoing surgery in Vancouver after surviving an avalanche on Sunday that killed three skiers, and the company has halted service until further notice.

Michael Brackenhofer, the guiding manager for White Wilderness Heliskiing, said the four were “fully buried” after being caught in the slide on the Iridium Shoulder ski run on Mount Knauss, north of Terrace.

“The victims were located through a transceiver search and visual clues from deployed airbags,” Brackenhofer said in a statement on Tuesday.

Brackenhofer said the buried skiers were all extricated within 15 minutes, and the guide was flown to a Terrace hospital after sustaining critical injuries.

He said the guide was in stable condition and undergoing surgery.

“The WWH team sends its heartfelt condolences to the families and friends of the three guests who lost their lives in this incident,” Brackenhofer said.

Brackenhofer said an investigation was being co-ordinated by the BC Coroners Service and RCMP.

Sunday’s avalanche has also prompted B.C.’s Workers’ Compensation Board to launch an investigation.

The investigation by the board, also known as WorkSafeBC, comes as experts urge B.C. backcountry users to be vigilant against avalanche risks, after a deadly weekend that also claimed the life of a fourth skier in a separate slide near Atlin in the remote northwest.

Avalanche Canada public forecaster Zoe Ryan said March is statistically “the most dangerous month” for slides, as the snowpack transitions to spring and temperatures warm up.

Ryan said “quite a large natural avalanche cycle” has been brought on by last week’s atmospheric river event, which dumped heavy precipitation across the province.

Avalanche Canada had warned last week that the atmospheric river, bringing heavy precipitation, warmth and winds, could destabilize terrain.

WorkSafeBC said it was notified of the Mount Knauss avalanche as a “serious workplace incident,” and investigators would be looking into the cause of the deaths and whether anything can be done to prevent similar cases in the future.

Another skier died Sunday about 500 kilometres from Atlin after a group of five set off a slide that left the victim buried under 1.5 metres of snow.

Ryan said the situation was still risky especially in the northern regions of B.C. where Sunday’s fatal avalanches took place.

She said the area’s snowpack is still in mid-winter condition with weak layers buried deep in snow that can both be larger in scale and harder for people traversing the terrain to detect.

“When we’re dealing with these deeper instabilities, these deeply buried weak layers, that’s when we get into really big avalanches with a large size potential,” she said.

Ryan encouraged people in the backcountry to choose conservative, less-risky terrain.

WorkSafeBC also issued a bulletin urging employers to ensure their employees’ safety when working in avalanche terrain, noting that they are responsible to make sure their workers are not exposed to hazards under the board’s occupational health and safety regulation.

The agency said the board has accepted 23 avalanche-related injury claims between 2014 and 2024, including one case involving a fatality and 11 serious injuries.

Avalanche Canada data show there have been eight avalanche deaths in B.C. this year, including six in the past month.

“It’s absolutely fundamental to making sure that our workers, our most valuable assets are protected while at their work and that they go home to their families and their loved ones in as good or better shape as they got to work,” said Andrew Kidd, director of prevention field services at WorkSafeBC, about an employer’s responsibility for assessing avalanche risks.

Kidd said while people may not associate outdoor environments as work safety sites, an employer needs to get an assessment of avalanche risks from a qualified person and formulate a plan if the working environment includes risky terrain.

Employers must also “ensure conditions are continuously monitored, workers are properly trained, supervised, and informed, and that work is postponed or stopped when conditions are unsafe.”

Ryan said avalanche risks also remain in southern B.C. despite the weak layers of snow being more exposed at surface level.

She said people traversing the backcountry anywhere in the province need to have proper safety training and monitor bulletins before going into mountainous terrain.

“The northwest ranges through to the Yukon, it’s really still winter up there,” she says. “It might feel like spring because the days are so long and temperatures are starting to warm up.

“You might be seeing the sun, but we truly still have a mid-winter snowpack,” Ryan added. “And we need to to wait and be patient before we step into bigger terrain as they might be accustomed to in the spring.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 24, 2026.

Chuck Chiang, The Canadian Press