REVELSTOKE, B.C. - For "sled-heads," events like the Big Iron Shoot-Out are a powerful draw into B.C.'s rugged backcountry, offering bragging rights as the main prize for participants on their high-powered snowmobiles.
But Saturday's deadly avalanche at the annual event near Revelstoke, B.C. - apparently triggered by daredevils climbing up the slope in hazardous conditions - has prompted debate even within the tight-knit snowmobiling world.
Even fellow sledders are asking whether the 200 odd people who were out on Boulder Mountain should have been there.
There were some heated exchanges on online snowmobiling forums, where users expressed frustration that avalanche warnings weren't heeded.
"Big Iron has a bad name already and now this," wrote one user on the website snowandmud.com.
Another called it "dumb" to have held the event when conditions were considered high risk for a slide.
"Knew this was going to happen," said the post. "Kinda pisses me off when people are making it sound like it wasn't preventable."
It's still not clear what exactly triggered the slide Saturday that killed at least two people, but witnesses say a small group were high-marking at the time - racing up the mountain in a competition to see who could leave the highest mark on the mountain.
The adrenaline-pumping contests have been blamed for previous avalanches.
But they are not uncommon at the Big Iron Shoot-Out, an annual event for the past few years that draws hundreds of riders to the deep, pristine mountain snow the Revelstoke area is revered for.
"It's not a set race, it's not a set event," Randy Zacaruk, who wasn't at this year's event but has helped organize it in the past, said from his home in Black Diamond, Alta.
"Basically, it's just a bunch of people getting together, having a good time to have some bragging rights."
The event is "non-sanctioned," meaning it is not officially organized or condoned by any snowmobile club or the B.C. Snowmobile Federation. There are prizes, but Zacaruk said even those are informal, handed out for improvised categories if someone had a good run.
A video from last year's event posted on YouTube, set to thrashing guitar rock, shows snowmobiles flying up the mountain through trees and deep snow, some launching over the top of the ridge and others tumbling down in a white blur of power.
Zacaruk, who teaches an avalanche safety course, said he couldn't comment on what happened this year, but he acknowledged the event attracts people willing to take on more risk than the average rider.
"These people are going at it a different way than an average person who goes out and buys a snowmobile to go riding and play on the hill," he said.
The Canadian Avalanche Centre had issued a warning that the risk where the avalanche occurred was "considerable."
The centre has targeted snowmobilers in recent campaigns, because they account for the largest percentage of avalanche deaths.
In the 2008-2009 season, there were 26 avalanche deaths in Canada, including 24 in British Columbia. Of those, 19 - or about 75 per cent - were snowmobilers. Snowmobile advocates point out there are more than 130,000 snowmobilers in B.C.
Despite the numbers and the fatalities this weekend, the centre's Greg Johnson said he believes the message is getting through.
"I do believe that people are starting to get that message more and more about avalanche safety," he said.
"It's a difficult thing to measure, it's more a grassroots thing. We're seeing a lot more response from the snowmobile crowd at the avalanche centre ourselves, and that's a big change from years past."
And Johnson said high-marking isn't always dangerous. It can be if conditions are poor but some riders do it in the right place, under the right conditions.
There are no regulations in place to prevent snowmobilers from being on the mountains in dangerous conditions, and the centre doesn't condone such rules.
Instead, Johnson said they aim to educate backcountry users.
Les Austin of the B.C. Snowmobile Federation said his group takes the same approach.
"We spend a lot of time and resources on safety," said Austin.
"When you travel on the backcountry, it's about personal choices. The avalanche people put the bulletins out, so there's lots of information out there for people. Everything's there for them, but it's a personal choice."
-By James Keller in Vancouver