Thieves in southeastern B.C. have made off with $100,000 in specialized avalanche gear, but it isn't worth a single shovel if a slide actually occurs.
RCMP in Golden, 700 kilometres east of Vancouver, say 100 avalanche backpacks were stolen from a local business between Christmas Eve and Dec. 27, but the suspects didn't take the nitrogen cylinders needed to inflate the high-tech gear.
Each backpack, worth $1,200, is designed to expand like a balloon, keeping the snowmobiler on the surface of the snow if the sledder is caught in an avalanche.
But the backpacks are useless without the nitrogen cartridges and those units, each worth $200, were missed by the thieves.
However the crooks escaped with a truck-load of other gear from Avalanche Safety Solutions, including 30 avalanche beacons, probes and snow saws.
Police ask anyone with information about the distribution or sale of the stolen packs and other equipment to contact them.
