‘Bigger than thou’: Awestruck snowmobilers won’t stop after 5 avalanche deaths
MCBRIDE, B.C. — The day after a colossal avalanche killed five snowmobilers in eastern British Columbia, Thea Pelletier climbed aboard her machine and returned to the backcountry wilderness.
She unfastened a yellow plastic lily from her backpack and planted the flower in pristine snow to pay her respects.
“I had a moment. It was intense. It was bigger than thou,” Pelletier said. “You feel the insignificance of what you are when you’re up against mountains like this. I can’t imagine someone calling my mom to say, ‘Your daughter is not coming home.’”
The B.C. Coroners Service revealed over the weekend the identities of the five Alberta men who died during a recreational outing on Mount Renshaw, near the small community of McBride, B.C.