Who: 51-year-old Giles Blackburn and 44-year-old Marie Jose Fortin
Where: Kicking Horse Mountain Resort, B.C.
Their mistake: If anything, they should’ve told people when they were expected back from the backcountry.
What happened: A husband and wife checked out of a resort for some backcountry skiing. During the trip, they somehow got lost in the mountains and were ill-prepared to be staying out in the wilderness for any extended amount of time. They had no extra clothes, no gear and only had two granola bars.
Two days after the couple were lost, a ski touring guide in a helicopter reported seeing an SOS sign and strange tracks in the ground. The resort checked for any missing guests and unreturned equipment. Nothing suspicious was found so a search was not immediately launched.
Six days after the couple left, another guide saw two more SOS signs in the ground. The findings were supposedly reported to the Mounties, but the incident was discounted because the previous incident turned up no missing persons.
Finally, on February 23, the couple was reported missing. The next day, a chopper was launched and a fourth SOS sign was spotted in the snow. Rescuers were launched to the area and found the man in terrible condition. He was suffering from hunger, exposure and frostbite. His wife was dead.
It is unclear how the man survived so long without food and shelter in the cold environment. Most of the reports show the Mounties and search and rescue pointing fingers at each other. Investigators are looking into the lack of action by both parties.
The condition of the man, and how the wife died have not been reported. Updates as they come in.
Read the story here.
This is such a shocking and tragic story. I am never going hiking again in an area I am unfamiliar with without flares and a walkie talkie (since there’s not much cell phone coverage out in the mountains and remote areas) -along with all the other emergency kit supplies. I can’t believe what these poor people had to go through and how little was done to help them.
Damn that’s sad and depressing…an SOS is a pretty loud alert that something is wrong and two agencies completely ignored it.
Turns out the people were NOT prepared in anyway. No skins to get back up-hill even. They truely got off track somewhere.
I’m afraid you shouldn’t go blaming rescue authorities if you had no contact/check-in plan set up. No one to call in if you don’t come back. No itinerary filed, even with friends. Just an assumption that you’ll return.
A tragedy, no question. But anyone can stomp out an SOS as a prank. And the Fernie area is big, bad country. When those snowmobilers got buried, a SPOT beacon call had rescuers on location in 1.5 hours.
Gotta take responsibility for your own safety. And then, maybe, rescuers can save your bacon.