Sgt. Mark Salesse, a search and rescue technician with more than a decade鈥檚 worth experience, was caught in an avalanche while on an authorized training exercise Feb. 5.
Two weeks later, there are still many pieces missing from what happened that day, but here鈥檚 what we know: The avalanche danger was high and had been for days because of heavy snowfall.
Salesse鈥檚 body was found Feb. 11 by Parks Canada鈥檚 visitor safety team. The recovery took six days because of the avalanche hazard, which kept the team in the air, rather than on the ground, for the first three days of the search.
The first ground team was deployed Feb. 9, after Jasper鈥檚 visitor safety specialists undertook avalanche control in the Polar Circus area.
The ground search took three days, with the team eliminating large portions of the search area on Feb. 10 and finding Salesse the morning of Feb. 11, with the help of faint signals from a rescue dog and a Recco receiver鈥攁 detector that receives signals from special reflectors inside clothing.
Parks says Salesse was not wearing an avalanche beacon, and it is unsure if he had any Recco reflectors in his clothes.
These are the facts that are known about Salesse鈥檚 death; what remains are many questions.
For starters, why was a team of competent search and rescue personnel climbing in a high risk avalanche area on a day with a high avalanche hazard? And why weren鈥檛 they properly equipped with standard safety equipment?
Who was leading the climb? Did they check Parks Canada鈥檚 avalanche bulletin before embarking on the trip?
The Royal Canadian Air Force is currently conducting an internal investigation to find out the specific details of what happened both leading up to the event and after it, as well as what factors contributed to the incident.
Until that investigation is completed, our questions will likely remain unanswered.
But they will remain important, because there seems to be no logical reason why Salesse and his team should have been on Polar Circus that day, and there is most certainly no reason why they should have been there without a beacon, shovel and probe, especially under hazardous avalanche conditions.
Salesse鈥檚 death is a tragedy. He died conducting search and rescue training in the service of our country.
We hope the RCAF investigation and the recommendations that follow, will ensure such tragedies don鈥檛 happen again.
