Fatal B.C. Avalanche Was Just Waiting To Happen, Says Guide

GOLDEN, B.C. - Warmer weather after heavy snows made conditions ripe for the huge avalanche that killed nine skiers in the Canadian Rockies, a mountain guide said yesterday.

Two skiers, a guide and a helicopter pilot survived the slide, said Martin von Neudegg, a lawyer for Canadian Mountain Holidays in Banff, Alberta, which arranged the skiing trip.

The bodies of the skiers were flown yesterday afternoon to Cranbrook Regional District Hospital in Cranbrook.

Eight victims were identified today by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Golden. The name of the ninth victim was withheld because relatives had not yet been notified.

One of the eight was an American, David A. Karetsky, 50, of Aspen, Colo.

Three were from England: Albert Edward Spencer, 40, of Leeds; Benjamin Dowson, 49, of Leicestershire; and Paul Kynaston Barton, 40, of Sussex. Two were from France: Philippe Marie Hanrot, 48, and Noel Bernard Scrivener, 44, both of Paris. The two others identified were Hans Wilhelm Zettler, 53, of Ammersee, Germany, and Alfonso Gabriel Ochoa, 46, of the state of Jalisco, Mexico.

The avalanche struck Tuesday afternoon in the Purcell Mountains of southeastern British Columbia, about 15 miles southwest of Golden, a site accessible only by helicopter and far from any telephone.

Walter Bruns, operations manager for Canadian Mountain Holidays, said the skiers wore radio transmitters to aid a search in case of

avalanche.

Two groups of skiers were on a run called Bay Street Tuesday afternoon. The second group to head down the slope was caught by the slide, which broke loose from above the 7,000-foot elevation, well above the skiers, von Neudegg said.

The slide was about 265 feet wide and 20 to 24 inches deep, making it ``a very large avalanche,'' von Neudegg said.

The weather at the time was clear. Arnor Larson, a guide from Invermere, said heavy snows over the weekend followed by temperatures above freezing had raised the danger of a major avalanche.

``It's prime avalanche weather,'' said Pauline Hall of the Mounties. ``The whole area overall has had more snowfall than we've had in several years, and then with the mild weather. . . .''

The area of the avalanche is about 140 miles north of Washington state and Idaho, near Bugaboo Lodge in southeastern British Columbia. The skiers had been staying at the lodge.

After signing liability waivers, skiers are brought to the remote area by helicopter for the thrill of skiing on virgin, powdery snow.

Bruns said 44 clients had been skiing in the same area of the Purcell Mountains when the accident occurred. He said most had left but skiing continued at eight other helicopter-skiing sites served by Canadian Mountain Holidays in British Columbia.