Avalanch Country in Canada---Whew

Hey gang...I hope all is well....( when you have a few minutes read this )

I wanted to share with you a quick story about a ski adventure I had in Fernie Canada last week about 2 hours north of the Montana Border.

Fernie is a ski bum town in British Columbia with lots of Hot Chicks and extreme winter sports.
It has snowed there 3-6 inches everyday since Christmas. Avalanches are very common but supposedly they know how to manage them. Our very first day there we were skiing the big mountain in Fernie and then we we were getting on a Ski Cat and heading to a remote Lodge called Island Lake Lodge up in the mountains that is not accessible by car in the Winter.

The First day It snowed so hard that Visibility was practically zero. Leave it to me to Ski my first run out of bounds ( by accident ) and end up in a Danger Avalanche Zone. Before I knew what happen-----I was lost....and off the groomed slopes. I was in deep powder up to my waist and could not get any footing. I was hung over...dehydrated.....scared....and alone. Going down was worse.....going up appeared impossible ( Powder was too deep to get any footing)...Sideways looked possible if I could get my skis back on but once again I was up to my waist in powder.
........I started screaming for help. After screaming I heard a rumbling from the mountains and said to myself...."I've never heard that sound before" I immediately thought Avalanche.
Then out of the blue I hear a ringing noise...."Its my cell phone" its my buddies checking in on me..... They are in a lift line and laughing...."Boogie where are you" I repeat these next words..... Rescue 911 Rescue 911.... They start laughing harder ( they thought I skiied down to the bottom)
.....I repeat this is not a joke Rescue 911 Rescue 911. I bark instructions where I am. A 1/2 hour later...Ski Patrol is on the scene but cannot get to my exact location....One brave patroller traverses his way down to me and we devise a plan to get my ski's back on and ski our way out going sideways. His name was Paul and was now my best friend. I compensated Paul for his troubles and we wished each other well.

Mind you this was my first run on our first day....and we were headed to a remote Ski Lodge only accessible by Snow Cat for the next week. I Frankly did not want to even go.......But I heard the food and drinks were special.

Island Lake Lodge is a gorgeous resort. There are 3 buildings and it looks like the north Pole and it snows hard every single hour of every day.
The Staff are all friendly Canadians and it is a special place albeit the Ski Conditions warrant the you should have had some JR Olympic experience or higher....After Skiing the first day up there ( Hard as balls) ...I decided to take up Snow Showing ( actually a lot of fun ) and did that and other activities besides Ski most of the rest of the week.
We left on Thursday Jan 12 and we just heard on Saturday Jan 14 that there was a horrific Avalanche at the Island Lake Resort that Killed One of the staff members and somebody that had become a friend of mind during the last week.....Here is the article from the Canadian Times detailing the story.
To say this was an extreme trip would be an under exaggeration. Keep in mind this resort has about 80 staff members and only 30 guests each week so everybody is really tight knit for this week. The Article describes the death as a Man but it was actually a woman named Hayden and she was quite a Hottie......I hope she is in a better place.