Photo courtesy Flickr.
Three world-renowned climbers are missing and presumed dead after an avalanche in Alberta’s Banff National Park.
Jess Roskelley, who was at one point the youngest person to climb Mount Everest had set out to climb Howse Peak in Banff National Park along with Austrian climbers, David Lama and Hansjörg Auer.
They were attempting a challenging route up the mountain known as M16, said Eli Francovich, an outdoors reporter with the Spokesman Review newspaper in Spokane, Wash., where Roskelley is from.
They were reported overdue on Wednesday.
Parks Canada said in a release issued Thursday that officials had “responded by air and observed signs of multiple avalanches and debris containing climbing equipment.”
Recovery efforts are on hold because of a continued risk of avalanches in the area. The men were trying to climb Howse Peak on the Icefields Parkway.
Parks Canada says the three are considered professional mountain athletes and highly experienced.
With files from the CBC and Canadian Press
CHEK News
