Well, John and Mark are gone. They were caught in an avalanche in Kananaskis and though they were dug out, they perished from the trauma of being slammed into trees if I am to believe details from the news reports.

I wanted to write something earlier, but waited until their names were released to the public.

Other Mark, The Don, called me Sunday evening - while I was working - he left a message and told me it was important that I call him back.

I got the message after work, late in the night, so i e-mailed him that I would call him the next day, but I saw Lesley, our friend and The Don’s wife, online. I messaged her to ask what was up. She told me she would call me.

I was expecting distressing news, but I didn’t expect what I heard.

“Mark and John were caught in an avalanche and died. Tim [another friend] called Mark [The Don] to let him know.”

I thanked her for telling me, we spoke briefly and then hung up.

More happened after that, I may write about it later. Right now I am waiting to know when the funerals are.

Two backcountry skiers who were checking the stability of the snowpack in the Rocky Mountains west of Calgary likely set off the avalanche that swept them to their deaths, officials said yesterday.

[...]

Since both men were equipped with avalanche transceivers and the other group of skiers also had safety tools, the rescue was fast. The men were out within 15 to 25 minutes and basic first aid was applied, Mr. Field said.

But their injuries were too severe and both died at the scene.

Two skiers likely sparked avalanche they died in, Alberta officials say TGAM 10 Dec 2007

—–

Two Calgary men were killed by an avalanche in Kananaskis despite the “heroic” rescue efforts of a second group of backcountry skiers.

The two men were skiing in the northeast bowl of Tent Ridge near the Spray Lakes area when they were swept into a stand of trees by a powerful avalanche Saturday afternoon.

[...]

“Their efforts were heroic,” said George Field, public safety specialist with Kananaskis Emergency Rescue. “They did everything they could.”

The two men, believed to be in their late 20s or early 30s, were found dead on the scene, possibly killed by the impact with the trees, said Field.

Two Calgary men die in avalanche Calgary Herald 9 Dec 2007

—–

An Oakville man who was one of two men killed in an avalanche on the weekend was an experienced mountain guide, his family said.

Mark Lynton Smith, 29, had been backcountry skiing Saturday with roommate John Nyenhuis, 29, in the northeast bowl of Tent Ridge in Spray Valley Provincial Park, when a massive slide swept them about 750 metres into a grove of trees.

Avalanche kills Oakville man | Active outdoorsman killed while skiing CNews 11 Dec 2007