Big Iron Shootout organizer David Clark
The RCMP are investigating whether criminal charges should be laid in a deadly avalanche near Revelstoke that they say was triggered by snowmobilers.
A 10-person team from the major-crimes unit is looking into the events surrounding the slide on Boulder Mountain and trying to determine who organized the unsanctioned Big Iron Shoot-Out.
No one has publicly stepped up to take responsibility for organizing the event.
Kurtis Reynolds and Shay Snortland, two 33-year-old Alberta men, were killed and 31 others hurt when a wall of snow came down on about 200 people on Saturday.
One of the event's organizers is known by many in the sledding community as "Ozone Dave," a Calgary businessman who has helped promote snowmobiling in the region for many years. They confirmed his identity as David Clark.
No one answered the door yesterday at his south Calgary home, where his front door was covered in cards from news media seeking comment. A neighbour angrily told reporters to leave.
A staff member at Mr. Clark's business, The O Zone sunglasses, said Mr. Clark was not at the store and she had no information on how to contact him.
A phone number given for Ozone Dave in relation to the Big Iron event posted on a snowmobiling website several months ago was no longer in service.
Some have argued that organizers of the event should have seen the disaster coming.
An avalanche warning had been in effect for the area when three daredevil sledders apparently began competing to see who could race highest up the mountain in a competition called high-marking.
"The aim of the investigation is to look at all the current information and gather up all information related to the incident," RCMP Corporal Dan Moskaluk said yesterday.
"There's deaths involved ... now they [investigators]have the responsibility to see if there are any elements of any offences."
Alan Williams, part-owner of the Revelstoke-based Sled Shed, said Mr. Clark was instrumental in setting up the event about six years ago. He described Mr. Clark as a high-strung, enthusiastic guy who just wants everyone to have a good time.
Mr. Williams said the event spread mainly through word-of-mouth through a small sledding community.
"Every weekend, you've got those same people here."
Kathy Berlingette, owner of Smokey Bear Campground Resort in the area, said the event "started out as a group of guys saying, 'I can go higher than you can, my machine is bigger than yours.'
"I don't know that it's really organized by any one person."
Revelstoke city Councillor Steve Bender said everyone in town knows the name of Ozone Dave.
The event has long been a concern for the snowmobiling community, Mr. Bender said, pointing out that while the local club charges a small fee to use its trails, they were not involved in the organization.
"It has been under discussion for years, it's been an issue, because we don't know whose jurisdiction it's in," he said.
"The fact it's unsanctioned, there's discussion around what kind of safety controls there are."
Mr. Moskaluk said that investigators see Saturday's gathering as "an organized event," but would not reveal the names of potential organizers.
He added that police will recommend criminal charges to Crown counsel if they have enough evidence.
Given the unique circumstances, Mr. Moskaluk expects the investigation to be long and complex.
"We're looking to speak with a variety of persons ranging from witnesses, participants to see if there was an organizing body to this."
Sanjeev Anand, a former senior Crown prosecutor, who now teaches law at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, says making a criminal case won't be easy.
"It is not enough to show that the organizers of the event, for example, failed to take the kinds of precautions that a reasonable person would. The Crown would have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the standard fell so far below that of the reasonable person that it constituted gross negligence."
The fact that people had a choice to attend would not necessarily matter in a criminal case, Mr. Anand said.
"It's one thing to take a risk on your own. It's another thing to create an event in a dangerous area and not to take appropriate precautions."
The search-and-recovery effort ended Monday after rescue teams and trained dogs found no signs that any other people were trapped under the snow.
Survivors and experts have said the situation could have been much worse if those left above the snow hadn't been prepared with safety gear and technology to find others who were buried.
Mr. Williams said the message to take away is not who to blame, but rather how to make sure that all snowmobilers who venture into the backcountry have the proper equipment and knowledge.
"The level of education that's out there to the level of horsepower we've got out there is a big mismatch."
The Canadian Press with reports from Tim Cook in Edmonton and Shannon Montgomery in Calgary