An avalanche near Blue River has claimed a life over the weekend.

North District RCMP spokesperson Cpl. Madonna Saunderson says the alert went out when an emergency beacon activated Saturday afternoon.

“We let the police know of an avalanche near the Bone Creek forest service road off of highway five. That is about 70 kilometres south of Valemount. At this point we know one person was deceased in a group of individuals who were snowmobiling. I have no idea how many people were in this group of snowmobilers. There was an avalanche and sadly one person was deceased.”

Saunderson says a number of search and rescue groups responded to the scene.

Unconfirmed reports say the man killed in the avalanche was from Alberta but Saunderson says his identity has not yet been released.