Snowmobilers remain opposed to having their back-country fun regulated despite a
weekend avalanche that killed two Alberta men and injured 31 others.
B.C. Snowmobile Federation executive
director Les Auston says rules restricting access to the province's vast
back-country would be unenforceable.
Auston also says its a personal
choice of those who engage in high-risk activity such as high-marking, which is
the practice of racing a snowmobile up the side of a mountain to see who can go
the highest.
Auston says education is a better
approach to getting people to make more informed decisions.
B.C. is one of only a few provinces
and territories in Canada that doesn't require snowmobile drivers to have a
licence.
A massive slide struck spectators and
participants at the Big Iron Shoot-Out near Revelstoke late Saturday afternoon.
Revelstoke Mayor David Raven says a
quick response saved 30 to 40 lives but adds if the accident had happened even
half an hour later, darkness would have made it impossible to locate dozens of
injured people.