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RCMP say they have looked for abandoned vehicles and canvassed area hotels and there is no one that they know of left unaccounted for following a deadly B.C. avalanche.

RCMP direct traffic at the staging area for avalanche search-and-rescue operations near Revelstoke on Saturday. (David Rooney/Revelstoke Current/Canadian Press)

Cpl. Dan Moskaluk said late Sunday afternoon that police were far more optimistic than they had been that Saturday’s avalanche on Boulder Mountain did not result in the mass fatalities feared in the first hours after the tragedy.

He said those people that police know were at the event have been accounted for and there have been no new reports of people missing.

A wall of snow engulfed a group of about 200 snowmobilers gathered for the annual Huge Iron Shootout, near Revelstoke, B.C.

Police said Sunday that two men, Shay Snortland and Kurtis Reynolds, were killed in the slide, revising a report that three had been confirmed dead.

There were fears the death toll could be in the dozens, but Moskaluk said most of those participating in the event appear to have made it safely off the mountain.

Witnesses said the avalanche appeared to have been triggered after three snowmobilers started high-marking — the practice of snowmobilers racing up the side of the mountain to see who can go the highest.

Police said they were trying to speak with the event’s organizers, but it was not clear whether charges were being considered.

Thirty-one people were injured in the slide, including one critically. Moskaluk said 19 of the injured had been released from hospital.

Four patients in more serious condition were transferred to hospitals in Calgary, Kamloops Kelowna and Vernon.

Ben Bassaraba of Fernie, B.C., who was recovering in a hospital in nearby Kamloops, said he was eating lunch with a friend when he heard a loud sound like thunder and looked up to see snow barreling toward them.

“Everybody I could see went under. It was so massive, there was nowhere you could go,” Bassaraba said. “I should have been way down deep, I don’t know how I finished up on top. I was lucky, but there’s people less lucky, that’s for sure.”

Dozens in search team

The aerial search of the avalanche zone continued for much of the day Sunday. The ground search involving 40 to 50 people with four search-and-rescue teams resumed just after 10 a.m., once the area was deemed safe.

Kathy Berlingette, owner of Smokey Bear Campground Resort in the area, said the event was in a remote place and everyone involved had to use snowmobiles to get there.

She said the avalanche struck in an area known as Turbo Bowl. Officials estimate the snowslide was seven to nine metres deep and 150 metres wide.

Hundreds of people from B.C., Alberta and Washington state were watching the snowmobiling event when the avalanche hit around 3:30 p.m. local time.

The mountain was shut down as search-and-rescue helicopters and avalanche dogs worked to recover the injured.

Rescuers were still scouring the mountain after darkness fell Saturday night. The search was then called off until daybreak Sunday.

Some of the injuries were caused by the force of cascading snow or from snowmobiles colliding, survivors told CBC News.

One man said the snowmobile he was riding was carried about 30 metres down the hill. When he finally came to a stop, he had slammed into another snowmobile.

He described the helplessness survivors felt that some people didn’t make it out alive.

“I was at Tim Hortons for breakfast [Saturday] morning and talked to four guys, including one who didn’t survive,” he said. “We couldn’t help him out.”

Avalanche risk was high

Raven said the Canadian Avalanche Centre started warning people three weeks ago to use “extreme caution” in the region. A fresh snowfall Friday made the avalanche risk that much higher, he added.

Officials say the avalanche is one of the largest they have ever seen.

Adam Burke, a member of the Revelstoke Snowmobile Club, said he didn’t take part in the Huge Iron Shootout because the avalanche potential was too fantastic.

According to the avalanche centre, there have been 10 avalanches in the area since Friday, when the CAC issued an extreme warning for the area. It advised people to stay away from any defined avalanche terrain and steep slopes.

On Feb. 15, an Alberta man was killed in an avalanche while snowmobiling on Eagle Mountain near Revelstoke. Another Alberta man died in an avalanche while skiing near Rossland, B.C., in early January.

Revelstoke is about 300 kilometres west of Calgary and about 400 kilometres northeast of Vancouver.

Risk underestimated

In the winter of 2008-09, 24 avalanche-related deaths were recorded on B.C. mountains, making it the worst season on record.

Five of those deaths involved skiers and snowboarders. A total of 19 snowmobilers died in 11 separate avalanches. One incident, in Sparwood, B.C., claimed eight lives alone.

In February, a British Columbia Coroners Service review panel — place together to study the high number of avalanche fatalities — released its findings.

The panel found that in many of those deaths the individuals involved underestimated the risk of avalanches.

The panel made 15 recommendations, including greater awareness in the snowmobiling community and increasing the coverage and frequency of avalanche forecasts.

With files from The Canadian Press

Alberta’s Kevin Koe won the 2010 Brier on his final shot. (Andrew Vaughan/Canadian Press)

Alberta skip Kevin Koe has won the Brier on his first try, upending a previously undefeated team from Ontario to claim Alberta’s third consecutive Canadian men’s curling championship.

Koe, 35, rallied from a nervous start to beat Glenn Howard’s Ontario rink in an extra end Sunday night in Halifax.

On top of claiming $40,000 as the winner, Koe and his teammates have won the right to represent Canada at the world championship next month in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy.

Alberta surrendered two in the first end as Koe appeared to wilt under the bright lights of the huge stage. But he rebounded to count three in the sixth, executed a magnificent hit in the 10th end and drew to the button in the 11th to seal the 6-5 victory.

Koe had never made it to the Brier before this year, an absence due in no small part to an accident in geography that forced him to share not only a province, but a city with iconic Edmonton-based rinks skipped by Kevin Martin and Randy Ferbey.

Koe went to Alberta from his home in the Northwest Territories to study commerce at the University of Calgary.

He remained in the province to compete against its elite class of curlers, having no way of knowing his apprenticeship would last for the better part of a decade, as Martin and Ferbey continued their dominance.

Their shadow was impossible to escape, with one or the other advancing beyond the local playdowns to win the Brier eight times over the last two decades.

Martin led Canada to a gold medal at the Vancouver Olympics, and was also the subject of a feature in The New York Times.

Martin also appeared in Halifax to sign autographs for throngs of fans as Koe was quietly preparing to make his debut.

Long road to final

Koe posted an 8-3 record in the round robin, but finished third after a narrow loss to the Ontario rink in the final draw. That forced him to take the long road to the final, where he had to beat Newfoundland and Labrador as well as Northern Ontario in the playoffs Saturday.

Howard, 47, rolled through the round robin, posting 11 straight wins. He had an incomparable advantage in experience at the Brier, having already made 11 appearances with a title as skip three years ago.

That veteran savvy might have contributed to a surprising turn of events in the first end, when Alberta was sitting two as the skips prepared to throw. Koe flashed the house on a takeout attempt with his first rock, which ultimately allowed Howard a draw for two and an early lead.

Ontario third Richard Hart hit a remarkable raise double-takeout in the second, prompting Koe to blank the end. The third end was also left blank, allowing the tension to build.

Koe drew for three in the sixth end to give Alberta a 4-3 lead.

The Brier rookie made another crucial shot with his last throw of the 10th end, when he hit two Ontario stones, forcing Howard into a draw for one to force the extra end.

Poor attendance

There were pockets of vocal support for both teams in the crowd, which was larger than it had been all week, but still not large enough to make up for the event’s disappointing overall total.

Organizers had been hoping a strong walk-up crowd would push final ticket sales to about 125,000 for the week, still well below the 158,414 sold when the city last hosted the Brier seven years ago.

The huge walk-up never arrived, and the final total stood at 107,242.

Graham Harris, co-chair of the 2010 Brier, suggested the Vancouver Olympics had drained the discretionary funds from many of the would-be ticket buyers.

“I reckon the Olympic experience was fantastic for the game of curling, but at the end of the day, the patron who goes from event to event has to make a choice on which events to take in,” Harris said Sunday.

“And when you have the Olympics in your home country, all of the sudden, we’re both chasing the championship dollar.”

Alberta’s Kevin Koe won the 2010 Brier on his final shot. (Andrew Vaughan/Canadian Press)

Alberta skip Kevin Koe has won the Brier on his first try, upending a previously undefeated team from Ontario to claim Alberta’s third consecutive Canadian men’s curling championship.

The 35-year-ancient rallied from a nervous start to beat Glenn Howard’s Ontario rink in an extra end Sunday night in Halifax.

On top of claiming $40,000 as the winner, Koe and his teammates have won the right to represent Canada at the world championship next month in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy.

Alberta surrendered two in the first end as Koe appeared to wilt under the bright lights of the huge stage.

He rebounded to count three in the sixth, executed a magnificent hit in the 10th end and drew to the button in the 11th to seal the 6-5 victory.

Koe had never made it to the Brier before this year, an absence due in no small part to an accident in geography that forced him to share not only a province, but a city with iconic Edmonton-based rinks skipped by Kevin Martin and Randy Ferbey.