Peter Lougheed Provincial Park (AB), Canada – A pair of backcountry skiers who perished in an avalanche in this Provincial Park near the B.C./Alberta border on Saturday owned snow safety equipment, but left in in their car.nThe two victims have been identified as brothers Rob Glaser, 53, of Bragg Creek, Alberta, and Mark Glaser, 54, of Calgary. The 300 meter-wide, two meter-deep slide that buried the two men was witnessed by another party of three backcountry skiers near Burstall Pass. They called in rescuers after being unable to locate the victims themselves. The bodies of both men were recovered from the slide’s debris field on Sunday.

While both men owned avalanche transceivers, they opted to leave the gear in their car on Sunday as they planned to ski safer areas, officials indicate. The area had received approximately 50cm of new snow over three days leading up to the incident, prompting the Canadian Avalanche Centre to rate avalanche danger as “high” at the time.

Meanwhile, another avalanche struck a party of 15 backcountry skiers in Kokanee Glacier Provincial Park on Sunday, burying and killing one victim. A doctor in the group staying at Kokanee Glacier Cabin pronounced the unidentified victim dead of his injuries after they located the man within five minutes. While his name has not yet been released, the victim was believed to be in his 40s and from Calgary, Alberta. No one else in the group was injured.