Experienced park warden dies in avalanche

January 14, 2002
Source: CBC Calgary
Original story - link verified on January 14, 2002

An experienced Jasper National Park warden is dead after an avalanche near the Columbia Icefields caught him by surprise this weekend. Mike Wynn, 37, was doing avalanche forecasting on Saturday, with two other wardens, near the Columbia Icefields, 100 kilometres south of Jasper. Rupert Wedgwood, an alpine specialist who coordinates the public safety programs in Jasper Park, says the tragedy occurred, despite only a moderate avalanche danger rating for that area. "Avalanches do take place on any given day throughout the Canadian Rockies," says Wedgwood. "We'd like to think we can anticipate entirely when these events occur. Every once in a while we get it wrong, you get unlucky, and the three happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, they got unlucky."

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