Celebrating the Heroic Life of Search and Rescue Technician Who Was Taken by an Avalanche, Climbing the Scariest Peak in Canada

Scaling a vertical cliff with nothing but rope between you and the disaster indeed sounds dangerous. Nevertheless, while the insanely steep rocks have helped many to reach the pinnacle, they also took the lives of other pursuers. One such rock-climbing enthusiast who met with a brutal accident while climbing a mountain was the Canadian hero, Sergeant Mark Salesse. 

Sergeant Mark Salesse was a search and Rescue Technician based at the 17 Wing, Canadian Forces Winnipeg. While he was on a military exercise on Alberta’s Cirrus Mountain in 2015, Salesse got swept off a ledge by an avalanche and lost his life in the process. Now, it’s been eight years since the incident, and many came forward to pay the hero their heartfelt homage.

The tale of the unfortunate demise of the Canadian hero

To express their heartfelt eulogy, the Canadian Heros Foundation took to their Facebook handle to share Sergeant Mark Salaesse’s story. As per the post, on 5th February 2015, Salaesse had reached the summit of ‘Polar Circus’ with his climbing partner. For the unversed, Polar Circus is one of the most dangerous points that reside between Banff National Park and the White Goat Wilderness area.

As the leader of his unit, Salaesse was walking across a giant snow-covered granite ledge. The snowy slab was about 320 feet x 65 feet in size. However, Sergeant’s footsteps caused a reverberation and it triggered the resting avalanche. The snowslide swept the Canadian 80 meters below the cliff, only to push him down further 100 meters.

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Nonetheless, the other climbers who were with the Seargent survived the avalanche. However, their attempts to search the Canadian’s body went in vain, as nobody from the search crew was able to track his whereabouts. 

A week-long search operation helped the crew find Seargent’s body

After spending 6 days in search of Salaesse, the crew members were finally able to track the climber’s lifeless body on 11th February 2015. Salaesse’s body was recovered from under several meters of snow in the Banff mountains. To pay his heartfelt tribute, the former Prime Minister of Canada, Stephen Harper expressed a eulogy for the legend. He stated, “On behalf of all Canadians, Laureen and I extend our heartfelt condolences to Sgt. Salaesse’s family, friends, and colleagues”. 

Clearly, the ferocious avalanche hampered the attempts of climbing made by Sergeant Salaesse and it ended up taking his life. The Canadian hero may not be here with us today, but his heroic saga will always be remembered in the golden pages of history.

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