Three Deaths Reported By Canadian Heli Skiing Operation

On Monday, a helicopter operated by Northern Escape Heli-Skiing and Skyline Helicopters crashed near Terrace, British Columbia, killing three and leaving four injured.

Northern Escape Heli-Skiing issued a statement regarding the crash yesterday.

The names of those involved in the crash haven't been shared by Northern Escape Heli-Skiing.

CBS News reports that the helicopter lost communication before it crashed and came to rest in a remote snowfield only accessible by air. Two other helicopters were traveling with the downed helicopter before it crashed and shuttled the injured persons to another area where first responders met them, CBS News says.

Further details about the cause of the crash remain unknown but may be addressed during an in-person statement from Northern Escape Heli-Skiing later today.

Northern Escape Heli-Skiing has contacted HeliCat Canada—a Canadian helicopter and snowcat recreation trade association—to solicit assistance from its Mountain Community Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM), which will provide several resources, including peer support and debriefing.

"Like many outdoor activities, it's impossible to eliminate 100 percent of the risk," HeliCat Canada wrote in a statement issued today. "But our industry does its best to mitigate it with our world-class knowledge and expertise to ensure guests can enjoy the beauty and unique experience of helicopter and snowcat skiing."

An investigation into the crash is underway. This article may be updated as further details emerge.

UPDATE Tuesday, January 23rd, 4:38 PM MST: Northern Escape Heli-Skiing has shared a statement from its owner, John Forrest, with POWDER. It is pasted word for word below.

"The guests who ski with us and the staff who work with us each season are part of our family. It is impossible to put into words the profound grief that we feel and the sorrow that our guests and our staff share. We hope you will respect the privacy of those impacted at this extremely difficult time.

Northern Escape Heli-Skiing is focused on providing assistance and support to everyone who was impacted by the accident.

At this time, Northern Escape can confirm there have been three fatalities and four others were taken to Mills Memorial in Terrace. We are unable to provide names until we know that next-of-kin has been fully notified.

Four patients who were received and treated at Mills Memorial Hospital following yesterday’s tragic helicopter incident in the Terrace area have been transported to other centres in B.C. for higher levels of care. Currently, two of those patients are considered to be in critical condition and two are in serious condition. 

On the day, Northern Escape had three helicopters operating in an area about 30km north of Terrace when one of the helicopters was involved in an accident. We contract our helicopters from Skyline Helicopters based in Kelowna, B.C. 

All the scheduled communications were happening according to our protocols. During the time between scheduled calls, we received radio communications from a guest involved in the helicopter accident that the incident had occurred. We activated our rescue protocols, including immediately ceasing all skiing activities and activating search and rescue.

Our two other helicopters in the area immediately joined the rescue efforts along with our team of guides. Our helicopters assisted in bringing injured individuals back to Terrace, B.C. Rescue operations were led by our guides who are professional and are well-trained to deal with these kinds of emergencies.

We also activated a mutual aid agreement with neighbouring operations, and White Wilderness assisted in getting guests off the mountain. I’d like to thank them for their help. We are also grateful to all the outside agencies and our team who jumped into action immediately after the accident took place. All other pilots, staff and guests got home safe.

At the moment, the cause of the accident is unclear. We are working closely with the RCMP, Transport Safety Board, WorkSafeBC and other authorities to support the investigation into the cause of the incident.

Northern Escape Heli-Skiing takes every precaution to minimize the risks while being in the backcountry, and we meet all industry safety standards. However, similar to many outdoor activities, it’s impossible to eliminate 100 per cent of the risks.

All our trained heli-ski guides are dedicated professionals with years of British Columbia mountain guiding experience. Each is a certified member and/or recognized by the Association of Canadian Mountain Guides, the Canadian Ski Guides Association, the International Mountain Guides Associations and HeliCat Canada, our industry association that sets the standard of care for heli-skiing safety in our industry.

Northern Escape Heli-Skiing contacted Tyga Healthcare and HeliCat Canada’s Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) team, which are on-site to support those involved in this incident, offering critical debriefing, follow-up peer support and other resources.

We are working towards resuming operations, but we don’t know when this will be. Right now, our focus is on supporting those who have been impacted by this accident. Our guests and staff remain our top priority."

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