Avalanche kills ski guide in B.C.

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Sunday, January 15, 2006

FERNIE, B.C. -- Unseasonably warm weather is being blamed for an avalanche that killed a ski guide in remote southeastern British Columbia.

The guide was swept away while checking a weather station near a ski lodge.

Island Lake Resort spokesman John Birrell says the unidentified employee was reported overdue yesterday morning.

Birrell says other employees saw that an avalanche had come down, travelled around a corner and gone uphill into the weather station site.

With the aid of an avalanche-rescue dog and search equipment, crews found the guide buried under one-and-a-half metres of snow.

The employee was flown to hospital but could not be revived.

Peace