‘A mountain girl’: Calgary teacher identified as skier killed in Kananaskis Country avalanche

Minetta Norrie is being remembered as a caring teacher, outdoor enthusiast and loving sister after she was killed in an avalanche on Friday.

A woman who died in an avalanche in Kananaskis on Friday has been identified as 34-year-old Minetta Norrie, a teacher from Calgary.

The avalanche happened in Kananaskis Country around 4 p.m. and involved a group of four skiers.

Norrie was swept up by the avalanche and died from the injuries she sustained. The other three were uninjured.

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“She’s such an incredible person and there’s so many different chapters to Min,” said her older brother, Eric Norrie.

“I want her to be remembered as this incredible, multifaceted person that she is.”

Emily King-Moore, who knew Norrie for more than 20 years, described her as an “incredible person.”

“The idea that Min has died is almost incomprehensible because she is one of the most alive people I will ever know,” said King-Moore.

“She was full of passion and energy, and she was loud, and she lived large, and she was adventurous and full of love and was a real character.”

Norrie was a Calgary Board of Education (CBE) kindergarten teacher at Cappy Smart School.

“Our thoughts are with her family, colleagues and students during this difficult time,” the CBE said in a statement.

RCMP say an alert beacon signalled emergency responders. A Kananaskis Country EMS unit staged just north of the Black Prince Day Use Area, about a kilometre north.

King-Moore said Norrie knew what she was doing in the backcountry.

“She wasn’t a rookie; there was nothing irresponsible about what they were doing, backcountry skiing,” said King-Moore.

“They had all the avalanche training; they had all the equipment.

“She really was a mountain girl.”

At the time of her death, avalanche conditions in the area were rated as considerable.

Avalanche awareness

Norrie’s death happened shortly after another person died skiing outside of the Lake Louise Ski Resort boundaries.

Avalanche Canada wants to remind people to be prepared when heading out into the backcountry.

“Avalanche danger is rated as considerable kind of throughout the interior of British Columbia and through the Alberta Rockies,” said Avalanche Canada forecaster Mark Bender.

“Decision-making is essential.

“If people are travelling in the backcountry, they should be sticking to low-angle terrain, so 25 degrees or less.”

Bender said people should have the right training and equipment while also checking conditions before heading out.