BC HIKING ACCIDENT
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카나다 벤쿠버 MJM 산악회와 벤쿠버 한인산우회 합동산행 사고.
'A great tragedy:' Bodies of 5 missing hikers recovered near Lions Bay, B.C.
'They fell down the north face of Mount Harvey,' says rescuer
By Matt Meuse, Maryse Zeidler, CBC News Posted: Apr 09, 2017 9:16 AM PT Last Updated: Apr 10, 2017 3:54 AM PT
The bodies of five hikers, believed to have fallen hundreds of metres to their deaths near Lions Bay, B.C., north of Vancouver, have been recovered by search and rescue crews.
Searchers believe a cornice collapsed on the peak of Mount Harvey, sending the group tumbling down the mountain's north face.
Hiker Alastair Ferries was on the trail Saturday when he passed a man in his 40s near the summit who had trailed behind the group.
But when Ferries reached the summit a few minutes later, the only thing he saw were the group's tracks leading over the edge of the mountain's sheer cliff.
"They were kind of going parallel to the ridge," he said. "They were back but I could see where their tracks where the snow had caved away."
"[I] noticed that they'd gone out on a cornice right close to the edge and the cornice had collapsed."
Search and rescue officials said the group may have fallen as much as 500 metres.
Ferries said the group's tracks showed the hikers had been aware of the cornice — an overhanging mass of ice and snow built up by high winds — but perhaps not of how big it was.
"On Mount Harvey, I think a really large cornice can develop sticking out quite far, so you have to stay quite far back away from the edge and that's not obvious."
Ferries said that after the sixth hiker caught up with him at the peak, he verified there were no other possible explanations for the group's disappearance.
Once he confirmed there weren't, Ferries and the man quickly descended to get to a place where they could get a cellphone signal to call for help.
현재까지 파악한 내용은 먼저 정상에 도착한 5분이 Cornice위로 올라 간것으로 추정이되고
그 Cornice가 무너지면서 같이 추락을 하였고 추락거리는 500m가량 되는 것으로 파악이 되었습니다. Cornice란 처마와 같이 허공에 떠있는 눈이므로 충격이나 하중이 크면 견디지 못하고 추락하게 되는 것입니다.
Cornice그림을 참고하십시요.
Cornice warning
The week before, a post on a popular hiking website warned people of the cornice at the top of the mountain, and that it would likely break off soon.
Lions Bay Search and Rescue manager Martin Colwell said cornices aren't easy to see when hikers are on top of one.
Ferries agreed.
"Cornices are tricky. It's not obvious how far they can stand out. You really have to be cautious," he said.
"I'm not sure if I was cautious enough yesterday."
Karl Klassen, the warning service manager with Avalanche Canada says cornices are common at this time of year when there is high wind, warm temperatures and sticky snow.
"If you're travelling on ridge crests you need to stay well away from the edge where the cornice forms, you want to stay on the windward side," he said, adding that cornice failures are quite common.
Steven Song, a local mountaineer and photographer familiar with the area, said Mount Harvey is a straightforward hike in the right conditions, but it can be easy to get in trouble in bad weather.
"The north face is about 500 metres or 600 metres [of] sheer cliff, almost vertical," Song said. "Big granite face. It's pretty impressive [if] you see it from below or from the other mountains nearby."
"It's a big shock that that many people all fell together. It's very sad."
Ferries said the conditions on Saturday weren't great — visibility was limited and varied, and there was intermittent snow.
Massive search effort
Dozens of search and rescue workers from organizations across the Lower Mainland spent Sunday morning scouring the mountain, including avalanche dogs and helicopter crews.
"This is not the outcome which we had hoped for," said Cpl. Sascha Banks of Squamish RCMP in a release.
The bodies of four of the five hikers were found early in the day Sunday, while the body of the fifth victim was not recovered until the late afternoon.
"Our thoughts are with the families and friends of the hikers and the search and rescue teams in Lions Bay," said Banks.
Colwell said the five victims were from B.C.'s Lower Mainland and were part of a regular hiking group.
On Sunday, members of the Vancouver Korean Hiking Club, said that two of the victims belonged to the club and had joined last summer.
For the Mt. Harvey hike on Saturday, Jenny Kim said that the pair joined others from another similar club called MJM Hiking Club.
"We know the people," she said. "We are very sad."
Colwell said those in the group may not have known they were walking into trouble.
No beacons, probes
A few of the hikers may have had some winter hiking equipment with them such as shovels, but Colwell said they didn't have full avalanche gear such as beacons and probes.
Police or the BC Coroners Service have not yet identified the victims.
Avalanche Canada recommends people wanting to explore the backcountry take avalanche training, which provides instruction on recognizing dangers posed by cornices.
Klassen also doesn't want people to get complacent because it's spring.
"You know just because it's warm and green in the valley bottom doesn't mean it's over in the mountains," he said. "We still have a pretty wintry snowpack up ... in the mountains."
이 매체에 따르면 캐나다의 한인 산악회 두 곳의 회원들인 이들은 해발 1천652m 높이인 하비산을 등반하던 중 숨진 채로 발견했다.
사망자 중 한 명은 대학 때부터 등산 활동을 하는 등 5명 모두 오랜 등산 경력이 있는 것으로 알려졌다.
당국은 사망자의 신원을 아직 공개하지 않았으나, 이들 모두 캐나다에 거주하는 한인으로 추정된다.
캐나다 왕립 기마경찰대는 성명을 내고 지난 8일 한 등산객으로부터 등산객 5명의 발자국이 무너진 눈더미 근처에서 끊겼다는 신고가 들어와 현장 수색 작업을 실시했다고 밝혔다.
기마경찰대는 헬리콥터 2대와 수색구조대원 40여 명을 동원해 수색한 끝에 정상에서 약 500m 떨어진 지점에서 한인 등산객들의 시신을 발견했다고 밝혔다.
수색구조대의 마틴 콜웰 매니저는 "희생자들이 산 정상 벼랑 끝에 처마 모양으로 얼어붙은 눈더미인 '코니스'(cornice)를 밟았다가 코니스가 붕괴되면서 산 아래로 추락한 것으로 보인다"고 밝혔다.
콜웰은 "코니스는 마치 눈으로 덮은 부드러운 능선처럼 보이나 그 위나 밑으로 지나가면 붕괴 위험이 있어 매우 위험하다"고 설명했다.
사망자들은 당시 위치를 감지할 수 있는 GPS 장치와 눈삽, 호루라기 등 비상 장비를 갖췄지만 갑작스러운 사고에 도움이 되지는 못한 것으로 추정된다.
하비산이 있는 밴쿠버 북부 일대는 지난 7일부터 눈사태 경보가 내리고 강풍과 폭설이 이어지는 등 기후가 좋지 않았던 것으로 알려졌다.
한 수색구조대원은 "눈덩이가 매우 두꺼워 수색 작업에도 어려움을 겪었다"고 밝혔다.
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