Alberta woman killed in rock slide remembered as ‘gracious person'

Global News

21-06-2025

Friend, colleague, educator, leader, mentor — those are just a few of the accolades lauded upon Jutta Hinrichs by those who knew her.
The 70-year old woman from Calgary has been identified as one of the people killed in the devastating rock slide at Bow Glacier Falls, about 40 km north of Lake Louise along the Icefields Parkway on Wednesday.
Emergency crews were called to the area in Banff National Park around 1:30 p.m. Thursday.
Two people who had been hiking in the area, and were injured in the rock slide, were airlifted to hospital. Another was taken to hospital by ground ambulance, while Hinrichs died at the scene.
On Friday, the body of a second victim was also recovered but has not yet been identified until next of kin is notified.
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Second person dead after Banff National Park rock slide
An avid hiker, who loved the mountains, Hinrichs' friends say she was 'a beautiful, caring soul with a huge smile and love of people and nature.'
She had just returned to Canada last Friday from a trip to Peru.
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Friends of Hinrichs tell Global News that she was an avid hiker who loved the mountains. Provided to Global News
Hinrichs was also a well-known and accomplished occupational therapist.
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Her contributions to the profession of occupational therapy, which spanned five decades, were recognized last year with a lifetime achievement award.
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Robin Telasky, executive director for the Society of Alberta Occupational Therapists, was a friend of Hinrichs for 18 years and describes her as 'an outstanding leader' and a 'gracious person.' Global News
'It's such a tragic loss to occupational therapy in Canada because Yuda was such an outstanding leader and such a gracious person who was always giving up her time, not just to her colleagues, but as a volunteer as well — and she spent so many years working with O.T. students and providing that critical mentorship to young people,' said Robin Telasky, executive director for the Society of Alberta Occupational Therapists who was a friend of Hinrichs for 18 years.
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'It's really hard to think of an occupational therapist who would not have been touched in some way by Yuda,' added Telasky, 'which is why she received the Lifetime Achievement Award just last year.'
Hinrich's was also the recipient of many awards for her volunteer work, including an outstanding community volunteer award from the United Way Society of Calgary and the Queen's Jubilee medallion from the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada.
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The office of the vice-president of external relations at the University of Alberta also provided a statement to Global News on the passing of Hinrichs, who was a professor in the faculty of rehabilitation medicine's department of occupational therapy until her retirement in July of 2024.
It described her as 'a dedicated leader' who 'nurtured many students, preceptors and clinicians to flourish and grow. That her work continues to enrich the tapestry of occupational therapy in Alberta is her legacy.'
Following an extensive search by dozens of emergency responders and search and rescue experts, Parks Canada said a search dog was able to pick up the scent of the second victim late Thursday evening, but it was too late in the day and the area was still too unstable to recover the body.
'We wanted to have a geotechnical engineer assess (the area) — we didn't want to expose people to that risk,' said Parks Canada visitor safety specialist, Lisa Paulson. 'It wasn't an easy retrieval.'
Rescue crews returned at first light on Friday and with the help of the Lake Louise fire department, were able to remove the debris and recover the second victim's body.
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Bow Glacier Falls rock slide witness calls scene 'pretty chaotic'