Banff National Park, Lake Louise Area. On 17 September Randy Hodgins of Calgary slipped and fell to his death from a rock ledge on the east shoulder of Sheol mountain above the Paradise Valley. He was a member of a party of four persons that left Lake Louise intending to hike to the Giant Steps in the Paradise Valley. Enroute they decided to leave the trail and travel along a series of small ledges about 200 feet above a grassy slope and the main trail on the valley floor. Randy Hodgins lost his footing, slipped and fell over a ledge about 25 feet in height, then rolled over a second ledge below coming to rest some 50 feet below. The accident occurred about 2:00 p.m. and while two of his companions, Douglas Cowell and Mark Manser remained with Hodgins, the third, Bruce Barrington, ran back to Lake Louise for help arriving at the warden station at 3:00 p.m. He reported the accident to the district warden Wallace McPhee who radioed the information to his supervisor Chief Warden R. T. Hand and Technical Officer Walter Perren, head of the Mountain Parks Warden Search and Rescue teams, 40 miles to the east in Banff townsite. Warden McPhee with his assistant, Warden Dale Loewen and the hiker Barrington then drove from Lake Louise to a point on the Moraine Lake road that has a good hiking access trail to the Paradise Valley. They wheeled a deer-toter up this route to where Hodgins was lying at the foot of Sheol mountain arriving at that point at 4:15 p.m. A medical doctor who was hiking in the Paradise Valley area on that day stopped at the accident scene, examined Hodgins and pronounced him dead. The body was taken on the deer-toter back down the trail to the Moraine Lake road. Enroute they met a follow-up party at 5:20 p.m. of four wardens who had been dispatched from Banff by Technical Officer W. Perren. Operation was concluded by 8:30 p.m. on the same day.

Conclusions: Death was caused by severe injuries received in a fall from a mountain ledge. The victim had a past record of epilepsy and the route along the ledges should never have been attempted unroped. The party had inadequate footwear for any off trail scrambling and were inexperienced in mountain hiking.