From the Vancouver Sun the other day: BC avalanche deaths trigger calls to regulate snowmobile operators:
A central Interior heli-ski operator is calling on the province to immediately bring in controls over backcountry snowmobilers, saying the large number of deaths on the mountains this past season has hurt B.C.’s international reputation as a safe and desirable outdoor recreation destination.
“It’s not a good image when, in the backcountry, so many people die. It’s not a good image for the province and the industry,” said Mike Wiegele of Mike Wiegele Helicopter Skiing in the North Thompson Valley.
Nineteen snowmobilers — all but one of them in B.C. — have died in avalanches in Canada this season, according to statistics provided by the Canadian Avalanche Centre (CAC). The number accounts for 75 per cent of all national backcountry fatalities, which also includes a heli-skier, a mountaineer and four out-of-bounds skiers.
In several of the snowmobile-related incidents, slides were triggered as a result of highmarking — a deadly practice where riders push their machines as far up a steep slope as possible.
Wiegele said his company has been called to help out in four rescue operations this winter, putting strain on both the business — which attracts about 1,500 mainly international skiers each year — and its employees.
“We have to stop everything, stranding some of our skiers in the mountains to save snowmobilers from themselves,” he said.
He said it’s long overdue for the province to license snowmobilers and regulate the sport, in the same way drivers on the roads are regulated.
“The problem is that snowmobilers can go anywhere, any time, any day — day or night — any place. It’s wild,” Wiegele said.
“The [current] practices are for accidents, not for safety.”
By contrast, he said, heli-ski operators and other backcountry professionals are heavily regulated.
And while operators “don’t have a problem with that,” he said, there is growing sentiment that the rules are being applied unfairly.
“When we first started our business, we had to go through miles of red tape and mountains of safety training … so why are snowmobilers exempt from that?” he asked.
Read the full article:
Maria
I’m no expect on this issue. but it seems to be two arguments regarding this issue.
1. Safety – which may mean licensing snowmobiles similar to motorcyles and thru that process perhaps you could regulate the size of these new “vamped” machines – if they are in fact causing the slides. and
2. the bigger issue I believe – is who has the right to the use of mountains/crown land? It seems the ones complaining the most about snowmobiles have the most to gain from them NOT being on the mountain. I don’t believe that any business should be given the exclusive rights to crown land – and therefore exclude other groups (snowmobiles, horseback riders, hikers or ANY other private individuals) from using the area. I think the government need to respect the rights of individuals on this one.
Kyle
“so why are snowmobilers exempt from that?”
A snowmobiler is an individual. A heli-ski operation is in the business of taking CUSTOMERS on a relatively hazardous adventure. Of course a service of this nature should be required to be safe. You take numerous lives into your machine to fly into your tenured terrain to provide your experience. Far different, is an individual on their own machine riding on public land providing their own experience and really only responsible for their own safety, no paying guests here.
What a silly comparison, Mr.Wiegele.
This whole initiative seems very questionable.