A search and rescue team has recovered the bodies of three unidentified climbers killed in a fall on Joffre Peak in the Pemberton, British Columbia, backcountry on January 11. The victims鈥攖wo women and a man鈥攚ere roped together and using crampons to hike up a central couloir (a steep chute on the mountainside) when they lost their footing and plunged 600 meters, .
The hikers had been with a larger group of hikers and skiers who had plans to meet at the end of the day, police said. When the victims didn鈥檛 show up, the other group members began searching for them. Police and Pemberton Search and Rescue initiated a search for the victims the next morning using a helicopter.
Police have not released the victims鈥 names but described them as a German female in her late 20s and a Canadian male and female in their 30s. The search team located the bodies approximately 300 meters below the Joffre Peak couloir shortly after the search began, Sergeant Rob Knapton said. They were recovered by helicopter on Monday.
Backcountry skiers consider that chute particularly dangerous.
鈥淚t鈥檚 so steep that you鈥檙e unable to arrest the fall on your own,鈥 backcountry skier Paul Cordy told the CBC.