Avalanche at Big White

by Rachael Kimola - Jan 6, 2008 / 11:32 am CASTANET

Two people have been taken to hospital after being pulled from an avalanche at Big White. Just before 11 a.m. Sunday, an avalanche occurred at the Parachute Bowl at Big White near Kelowna. Vice President of operations for Big White, Michael Ballingall, says the two people were partially buried by the avalanche. “They have been removed and taken to hospital, I’m not sure what the extent of their injuries is,” says Ballingall. He says between 20 and 30 people are searching the hill. “We are not sure if anyone else is buried, so we are conducting a search. Luckily, an avalanche training course was taking place nearby so we had a group of trained volunteers ready to go with their search poles.” Ballingall says the RCMP and Search and Rescue are on route to the scene. More information will be released as it becomes available.