Mounties have confirmed the victims of an avalanche outside Revelstoke, B.C., this weekend are both 33-year-old men from Alberta.
Curtis Reynolds of Strathmore and Shay Snortland of Lacombe were killed when an avalanche struck Boulder Mountain Saturday at around 3:30 p.m.
Authorities say roughly 200 snowmobilers and spectators were gathered at the hill for the Big Iron Shooutout, an annual informal event.
Thirty-one others were injured in the slide. Nineteen suffered minor injuries, while two remain in critical condition and two others are in serious condition.
The outcome is still far more optimistic than previously expected. Police initially feared dozens of people may have been trapped under a thick layer of snow.
B.C. Solicitor General Kash Heed, who flew to Revelstoke on Sunday, said because of the search volunteers, "we are fortunate that there weren't many more lives lost in this unfortunate incident."
Cpl. Dan Moskaluk said Mounties have received no missing persons reports in the aftermath of the avalanche, and that police had accounted for everyone known to have been on the mountain when it struck.
A handful of officers spent Sunday morning tracing the owners of abandoned vehicles and knocking on 47 hotel room doors to confirm guest lists and determine if anyone was still missing.
"We're confident in saying that we have accounted for all the persons on these varieties of lists that we did accumulate," Moskaluk said.
Search teams will pick up the search again on Monday, however, to ensure that no one has been overlooked.
The scene of the slide
Witness Ervin McKeen said he saw the avalanche "break off at the top of the mountain."
"It just gathered steam as it broke," he told CTV News Channel Sunday afternoon.
He was between 200 and 300 metres from the avalanche, and saw the snow bury a few people at the top before the dust generated by the avalanche clouded his vision.
McKeen and his party went to help search for people buried in the snow. He said most of those on the mountain seemed prepared for the possibility of an avalanche and had the proper safety equipment.
"Every time you go snowmobiling, you're in danger of avalanches all the time. Sometimes a little higher than others, but it's a risk you take," he said.
Adam Burke, 20, decided not to attend the event because of snow conditions on the mountain.
"Today it was high risk and just the other day it was extreme," he said Saturday.
"I told everyone to shut the mountain down...Just how I've been riding and I've noticed a lot of slab avalanches and I've caused a lot of little stuff over the season and it's just progressively gotten worse.
"I told my mom to shut it down and don't have anything to do with this event because it's going to kick you in the ass."
The Canadian Avalanche Centre had warned of a high avalanche risk Saturday, after a storm dumped new snow on the North and South Columbia regions of B.C.'s interior on Thursday and Friday, forecaster Greg Johnson told News Channel Sunday.
The centre continues to warn of a "considerable" risk of avalanche in the South Columbia region until at least Tuesday.
With files from The Canadian Press
