B.C. avalanches kill four in deadly backcountry weekend

By Canadian Press on March 23, 2026.

KITIMAT — Police say three heli-skiers were killed on Sunday when they were caught in an avalanche north of Terrace, B.C., on a deadly day in the province’s backcountry that also claimed the life of another person in a separate slide near the Alaska border.

RCMP say the avalanche near Terrace happened on Mount Knauss on the Iridium Shoulder ski run at around 1:28 p.m., when police received a report of four heli-skiers being struck.

Emergency responders arrived at a local lodge where one survivor with serious injuries was airlifted to hospital, while the bodies of three others who died in the avalanche were recovered from the mountain.

Officials had earlier warned of dangerous conditions created by last week’s heavy precipitation and warm temperatures brought on by an atmospheric river.

Hours after the Mount Knauss avalanche, a slide in a remote area near the Alaska border killed another person, police in the northwestern B.C. community of Atlin confirmed.

RCMP say the avalanche there happened at about 3:26 p.m., when police received an SOS alert from a GPS device from a location about 500 kilometres from Atlin, in the area of Klehini River and Pleasant Camp near the U.S. border.

A rescue helicopter was dispatched to the site, where four people were found uninjured along with the victim who had died, and all were extracted.

Police in both Terrace and Atlin say the BC Coroners Service has been notified and investigations into the deaths are ongoing.

Over the weekend, Avalanche Canada had cautioned there were considerable slide risks in B.C. mountains including those around Squamish, Whistler and Pemberton as well as those along B.C.’s boundary with Alberta.

Warning levels were raised to extreme in some B.C. areas late last week amid heavy precipitation and warm temperature. Avalanche Canada warned that a layer of weak ice buried beneath the snow had been created by the weather conditions.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Mar. 23, 2026.

The Canadian Press