Ottawa: Four people, including an Australian, died in avalanches in westernmost Canada in recent days in what has been tagged the deadliest avalanche season here in decades, authorities have said.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police spokeswoman Julie Rattee identified the Australian, who died Sunday in an avalanche on the ski slopes of Kelowna, in British Columbia province, as Leigh Barnier, 21, of Sydney, Australia.

Two others on snowmobiles suffered the same fate in separate avalanches in nearby Grand Forks and Midway.

And a 19-year-old Canadian skier died Monday after being buried in an avalanche in the backcountry near Lake Louise, Alberta, 400 kilometres east of Kelowna, said the Canadian Avalanche Centre.

The centre said on its website that rare December rain created a fragile ice crust between thick layers of snow pack in the Rocky Mountains that cracks easily under the weight of human footsteps, triggering an avalanche.

Since the beginning of the season, 10 people have died in avalanches in Canada, marking the nation's deadliest winter in 25 years.

South of the border, there have been 13 avalanche deaths: eight in Washington state, three in Utah, one in Colorado and one in Wyoming, said media.

Source : PTI