4 Dead After Separate Avalanches Strike Northwest BC

Backcountry skiers are dwarfed by the mountains as they make their way along a mountain ridge near McGillivray Pass Lodge located in the Chilcotin Mountains of B.C. in this file photo. The Canadian Press/Jonathan Hayward

Four people are dead and one man is injured following two separate backcountry avalanches in northern British Columbia over the weekend.

Three heli-skiers died on Mount Knauss near Terrace, B.C., while a fourth person was killed during a separate incident near Pleasant Camp, raising total avalanche fatalities in the province to nine this winter.